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t lunting and Shooting Incidents 



In The Life of 



JILL PURDLL 



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PURDEE AT EIGHTEEN 



By RAMBLER 

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 



Price Twenty-five Cents 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 



IN THE LIFE OF 



BILL PURDEE 



a choice collection of rare but true incidents, selected 

from the records of one who has had an extensive 

and varied experience; with very unusual 

opportunities; and who has spent 

a life-time in the business 

and is still at it. 



BY 

RAMBLER 

BOSTON, 1904 



ILLUSTRATED 



PRICE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS 



# 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two CoDies Received 
AUG 3 1904 
Cooyrteht Entry 

3 - k\ o 4- 




CLAS# COXXc. No. 

^3 if 

' COPY B 



I 



M . 



Copy rig /it J go 4 
by 

O. S 7 I M S O N 

Kittery, Maine 



Printed by C. IV. Leech, 27 Beverly Street, Boston, 






Hunting and Shooting Incidents 



CONTENTS 



INCIDENTS 



FIRST PAGE 

What^Proved Effective; or, He Had Killed His Last Hen . i 

SECOND 

Purdee Goes Sea Shooting. (In Four Chapters) 

Chapter I. The Giant of Brave Boat Horbor . . 5 

II. Landing on a Rock .... 6 

III. Sea Sick ..... 

IV. The Midnight Yell .... 8 

THIRD 

Feathers Won, Hair Lost; or, A Close Shot. (In Two 

Chapters) . . . . . .11-13 

FOURTH 

He Got More Than He Went For . . . 17 

FIFTH 

The Rabbit Hunter of the Backwoods ; or, Most Too Much 

Honor for One Day . . . . .21 

SIXTH 
A Quick Shot that Made a Fast Friend ... 25 

SEVENTH 
His Last Hunt with a Muzzle Loader . . • 27 

EIGHTH 
Outwitting the Geese ..... 29 

NINTH 
A Hunt and a Find Without His Gun . . . 33 

TENTH 

Camping Out. (In Three Chapters) 

Chapter I. Purdee as a Fisherman . . . 39 

II. Shooting Upland Plover ... 40 

III. Expecting the Ladies Out to Camp . . 42 



CONTENTS 



ELEVENTH 

Bill's Last Hunt with the Commodore ; or, Who Killed 
the Squirrel — The Man That Pointed the Gun, or the Man 
That Palled the Trigger ? ( In Three Chapters ) 
Chapter I. Why Can't We Go Hunting? 
II. Who Shot the Squirrel? 
III. There Goes Three Hundred Dollars to the Devil 



PAGE 



TWELFTH 



Three Good Shots 



THIRTEENTH 
Tommy Finds His Master 



FOURTEENTH 



Purdee Gets His Wish 



FIFTEENTH 

A Western Huntimg Trip, ( In Three Chapters ) 
Chapter I. Purdee Loses His Dog 
II. Dog and Master Met 
III. The Pitchfork Didn't Work . 

SIXTEENTH 
Bill's Southern Hunting Trip. (In Sixteen Chapters) 



Chapter I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 



The Run to Baltimore 

Still Southward They Go 

Lew Gets Sick 

Purdee Has a New Partner 

Bill's First Hunt with Pinney 

They Got This Time What They Went 

A Day with the Ducks 

The First Woodcock . 

Second Hunt for Woodcock 

Purdee Dines at Pinney' s House 

"Billy the Goat" Has a Fit . 

Purdee's Partner Called Out of Town 

The Close of the Hunting Trip 

The Pinneys Made Happy 

On the Train 

Purdee Arrives in Chicago 



For 



SEVENTEENTH 
Purdee Visits the Capitol City 



45 
46 

49 

53 

57 
61 



65 

67 
69 



73 

75 
76 

79 
81 

82 

83 

85 

87 
90 

9 1 

93 

95 
96 

97 
98 



101 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



I. Purdee at Eighteen 

II. The Nubble, Once a Noted Resort for Sea 
Fowls and Gunners . 

III. Purdee at Thirty-Six, When in California 

IV. Pinney, What Do You Think of Wood- 

cock ? 
V. They Knew That Quail Were There 
VI. Sport Soon Found the Quail 
VII. Gar and His Young Mistress 
VIII. Bill at Fifty-Six — and His Dog Sport 



1 



Front Cover 

Opposite Page 6 
Opposite Page 5 2 

Opposite Page 87 

Between 88-89 

Opposite Page 97 ■ 
Opposite Page 100 



INTRODUCTORY 



The occasion of Purdee's giving these notes to Rambler, and 
Rambler to the public, was by his being asked if there were any 
game birds that he had not killed, and what country he had not 
hunted in. 

Purdee answers, by saying: "To name the countries where 
J have not hunted, would take time ; but to name where I have 
hunted, would be a simple matter. In my native land I have 
hunted far and wide; and in South America, the South Pacific 
Isles, Central America, Mexico, and California; all kinds of the 
feathered tribe that inhabit those lands have fallen victims to my 
gun." 

And from California to Alaska, the webfooted fowls that on 
the coasts do abound, have by him, in great numbers, been knocked 
down. This kind of shooting was for many years a great pastime 
with Purdee; with decoys of his own construction, and in a canvas 
boat of his own design, he would lay out in the open sea, where no 
other boat would dare to go. 

The sea ducks that pitched to his decoys, soon decreased in 
numbers. It would be truly wonderful to relate his experience in 
this line of hunting, but I will give only one incident. 

When Purdee took to bush shooting, and drained his first dog, 
he became an enthusiast in this particular line of hunting; but of 
all the game birds that Purdee has killed in far away lands, none 
are by him made mention of as are those that he has killed in his 
own native town. The reason why this is so is easilv accounted 
for ; the beautiful country drives in the loveliest time of the vear, 
which are the most invigorating to both man and his dog. Rarely 



INTRODUCTORY 

ever being discouraged (and the true sportsman never should be) ; 
always hopeful when a cover has failed, that in the next there may 
be birds; and so he goes to the end of the clay. And if this proved 
to be a poor one, the next day may prove a good one ; and so on to 
the end of the season, has been Purdee's experience. 

For many years the hunting companions whom he always 
had, on his hunts near home, were of the best; gentlemen who 
were ardent sportsmen, true lovers of the dog and the gun, and 
who never tired of talking of, or listening to, how the dog pointed 
a certain bird ; or how it was killed by one companion or the other, 
or escaped, only to be hunted for some other day. 

I have often listened to the recital of these different incidents, 
as related by Purdee, making note of the same: and as I give them 
to the public, I trust chat they will prove as interesting, as what 
they have been to me, when recited by Purdee. 

Care has been exercised in the choice of these incidents to 
select such as could tell of something happening aside from the 
mere shooting of game. "THE AUTHOR." 



HUNTING AND SHOOTING 

INCIDENTS 



FIRST 

What Proved Effective; 

or, He Had Killed His Last Hen. 



MANY year? ago, one Murphy of Minstrel fame, bought in 
the state of New Jersey a beautifully marked pointer 
dog. for which he paid sixty dollars. He soon shipped 
him to a relative, who was a friend of Purdee's and lived 
in the same town. This relative of Murphy's was a great 
sea shooter, but knew nothing about handling a dog. 

One day as Purdee was passing his place he was hailed and 
asked by him if he knew of any way that would prove effective in 
stopping a dog from killing hens. 

"Yes," Purdee replied. 

"What is it ?" 

"Kill the dog." 

"Well, I guess you are right, but I hardly like to do it." 

From this little incident. Purdee was not onlv taken to see 
the dog, but was told of some things that he had done since ar- 
riving in the town. After Purdee had looked the dog over for a 
bit, his friend Dick said : "Look over there," at the same time 
pointing to a neighbor's henyard; "that hole which you see was 
made by that dog, and before I could get him out of the yard he 
killed five hens, which I have to pay for. 



2 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

"He is a cunning fellow, and one of my hens found it out 
this morning. He just chewed up some of the bread, when I fed 
him this morning, right where his chain is made fast. Then he 
went and laid clown as far away as his chain would permit, and 
to have seen him one would have thought him to be asleep. This 
was not for long, for a hen was soon picking up the crumbs, and 
a dog was picking up a hen, and when he got through with her 
it was mostly feathers, with no meat attached to them, that one 
could have picked up if he so desired." 

"How does he act in the woods?" Purdee asks. 

"Don't know. Never have had him out. That is what I have 
been wanting to see you about. Can't you take him out some day?" 

"Yes, I will come around this afternoon, and we will give 
him a run just to see how he acts." 

This they did, and found that he was very much of a ranger, 
so much so that he was out of sight soon after entering the woods. 
Purdee discharged his gun. and shot a yellow hammer, to see if 
lie would come in. which lie did. He called to the dog, to find the 
dead bird, and found that these words were all Dutch to him, as he 
would not hunt. Purdee picks up the bird and offers it to the dog 
to take in his mouth, which he does, but it did not remain there 
long, for with one gulp it was out of sight and inside of him. 

"What do you think of that?" Dick asks. 

"Well, while he is not exactly a retriever, he might be called 
a carrier, as he will certainly take that bird home; but no one 
will ever know it, except those who saw it pass out of sight. From 
what 1 have seen of his actions I am convinced that the dog has 
never been trained, although he may be a well bred dog." 

The next mormng while Purdee was out hunting, and stand- 
ing on the edge of a pine grove, his attention was called to a wo- 
man who was shouting at the top of her voice, and running down 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 3 

through a field, swinging a woman's weapon — a broom. This was 
almost opposite to where Purdee was standing. 

Some little distance in the air, ahead of the woman, he saw 
a large powerful hen-hawk, and in its claws was a hen. The bird 
was headed pretty nearly to where Purdee was standing, and by 
remaining quiet he felt confident of getting a shot, although it 
might be a long one. 

The shot he made. The woman got her hen, and Purdee got 
the hawk. He was not much hurt, the outer tip of his wing only 
being broken. He was so large that Purdee took him home, and 
on reaching there, put him down at his back door. 

It had not been there long, before his old cat discovered Mr. 
Hawk, and walked right up to him — such impudence on the part 
of a cat. The hawk resented this, for quicker than a flash he had 
pussy 111 his claws, and no cat was ever before so twisted as this 
pussy cat was. Such a caterwauling one never heard before. 

This act on the part of the hawk caused Purdee to think of 
the sixty dollar hen-killer; so in the afternoon he called to see his 
friend Dick, nnd on his telling him what the hawk had done to 
the cat, Dick said : "Fetch him over, and we will see how quick 
the doe can eat him." 

Purdee at once returned home and got the hawk, and all the way 
back he was thinking that that bird would never be eaten by that 
dog. On arriving with the hawk, both were anxious to see the 
performance. Purdee soon had the hawk setting up facing the 
dog, who was being held by his master, to be let loose on Purdee 
giving the word. This was done as soon as he saw that the hawk 
had his eyes on the dog, who was just jumping and tearing to get 
at him. 

The words, "Let him go, Dick !" were no sooner uttered, than 
the dog opened his mouth to grab him. The hawk nailed him 



4 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

plump on the end of the nose, quicker than lightning. The dog 
jumped five feet in the air, thinking no doubt to pass over what 
had hit him, but Mr. Hawk made a flying leap too, hanging on to 
where he had struck the end of the clog's nose; and such a howl 
came from that dog as no mortal ever heard before. 

They let the hawk remain for some time, the dog all the 
while trying to shake him off, but Mr. Hawk would not be shook. 
When removed by Purdee, he was again set up, but the dog cried, 
"Enough," and in the language of the ring, the "sponge went in the 
air," as he would not face the music. 

"Dick, let me take him by the tail." Saying this, Purdee 
grabs the dog and drags him toward the hawk, and when he turns 
his head and sees the object that he is being drawn towards, he 
sets up the most unearthly yelping ever uttered by a dog. He 
was now bleeding fearfully from the wounds in his nose, made by 
the tarons of the hawk, and from the day that he leaped five feet 
in the air with one attached to his nose, he never showed any dis- 
position to trouble anything that wore feathers. He bad killed 
his last hen. 



SECOND 

Purdee Goes Sea Shooting. 

CHAPTER I. 
THE GIANT OF BEAYE BOAT HAKBOB. 

OCTOBER 12th, 1866, Lew Sears calls to see Purdee, and 
urges him to go on a duck hunt, some twelve miles down 
the coast. Bill agrees to go, and at once commences to 
arrange for a three clays' absence from his home. 

At eight P. M. the same day, they find that they are lost in 
what is called "the back channel," where they were trying to get 
through to Brave Boat Harbor, which was some three miles from 
their home, or starting point. They had gotten into a pool of 
water, and it was so dark that they could not find an outlet; and 
as neither of them had ever been through the channel, they decided, 
after pulling the boat around for some time, that it would be best 
for one of them to go to a house, that was indicated by a bright 
light some distance away. Lew decided that he could fetch the 
house all right; but as it was fearful dark, Bill feared that he 
might get into some soft place, in the salt marsh, and that it 
would be better to remain where they were for the night rather 
than to run anv risk. 

It was only at the top of high water that even small boats 

could get through this very narrow and crooked passage; and if 

they were to get through that night, it would have to be very soon, 

as it was already nearly high tide. Lew starts for the light, and 

after a while Purdee is cheered by hearing these words : "Am all 

right ; have struck solid ground." 

5 



6 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

It was now still, and had been for some time, when Bill hears 
a queer noise ; and later he is enabled to distinguish these words : 
"Might noo-ed you couldn't ; way-way-over-in-the-in-the-dark-dark- 
creek. ;; These words were being constantly repeated, and all* the 
time the sound was coming nearer, until like an apparition stands 
a giant — in stature — beside the boat, shouting these words : 
"What are you doing way. over in the dark creek?" 

At this strange utterance by the giant a hearty laugh came 
from Lew, who was standing just back of demented Joe Billings, 
the giant of Brave Boat Harbor, who soon had them in the right 
channel, for which they thanked him and bade him ^ood-nio-ht. 

An hour later, and just as the moon came forth from be- 
neath black clouds, which had hidden it but were now scudding 
awav, their boat rises gently to the first comber as it rolls in over 
Brave Boat Harbor bar ; and as it falls gently to meet the next, one 
might think that it was bidding the bright moon a welcome; if 
not, the occupants of the boat certainly did, as it passes out on to 
old ocean. 



CHAPTER II. 

LAXDING OX A ROCK. 

Their objective point was now some eight miles away, and 
as a gentle breeze was blowing from the south, they set sail and 
scudded away. AVhile the boat glides on, Lew tells Purdee much 
about the place, where, in the morning, they will set their decoys. 
While he had often hunted at this place, he had never made the 
passage to it by water; all at once the boat rises on a sea, and 
shoots ahead at a fearful speed, and a few moments later they see 
right astern of their boat a huge comber rise, but it did not reach 



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Hunting and Shooting Incidents 7 

them. Now Purdee, who had sailed the seas over for many years, 
and knew just what that coamer indicated, said : "There is a 
sunken reck there, and hereafter a lookout we must keep." (The 
place was Stone's Rocks.) 

On arriving off the Nubble, and near a fisherman's shanty, 
where they were to stop, they laid off and on for a while, all the 
time trying to find a suitable place to land. They finally decided 
to let their boat run in with a sea on to what they thought to be 
a flat rock. When the boat struck, Lew from the bow was in an 
instant on to the rocks; and to save the boat, "Purdee goes over 
the stern to where — well, he did not know; but when in water up 
to his waist, he learned that it wasn't on drv land. Holding flrmlv 
to the boat, they waited for the incoming sea, which, when it did 
come, carried her high and dry up on to the rocks. 

Although they were wet, they had great reason to feel thank- 
ful; and later, when a blazing fire had been started, coffee made, 
biscuits and other eatables washed down with the same, they 
thought light of their narrow escape. Their blankets being wet, 
there was no sleep for them ; and between the time spent in the 
old fisherman's shanty, and burning huge pieces of drift wood, the 
night soon passed, and daylight finds them anchored with their 
decoys off the Nubble, making one of many boats in the line. 



CHAPTER III. 
SEA SICK. 



A wonderful sight it is to watch these birds; far to the east- 
ward they are sighted, hugging the shore as they come along; they 
sight the inner string of decoys and pitch down to where death 



8 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

waits them, and never do they attempt to pass on, but fly to the 
next string of decoys; and pitch down again, and again are shot 
at ; and so on, to the outer boat, which on this particular morning 
was number five. 

On this morning it was blowing fresh, and a short southerly 
chop caused the boat to pitch and tumble in such a way that Pur- 
dee became fearfully sea sick ; but when Lew would call out, "Here 
they come," Bill would bite it off, and get his gun, also his bird, 
then lay his gun down and resume operations again, which was 
vomiting. The sea sickness was caused by his having eaten some 
smoked halibut, and for years after he never again would eat a 
piece of it. 

About noon the ducks raised to fly on, and the hunters re- 
turned to the shanty, where, in the language of Lew, they "just 
had a feast," and such coffee no one ever drank before, at least such 
was the comment of a certain naval officer, who was also shooting 
off the Nubble and had called to see them. This coffee Purdee had 
brought home a short time before from Central America, and no 
better ever grew. 

CHAPTER IV. 
THE MIDNIGHT YELL. 

The second day proved to be a fine one, and most excellent 
shooting did they get, but early in the day Purdee blew the nipple 
out of the right barrel of his gun and got a bad wound in his cheek, 
but still he shoots; and Lew said that nothing short of blowing 
Bill's head off would prevent him from shooting when a duck hov- 
ered over the decoys. 

It was such a delightful day that along about three o'clock in 
the afternoon Lew, who was quite a weather prophet, remarked 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 9 

that it was too fine to last, and that they had better start for home, 
which they did; and a wise decision it proved to be, as a most ter- 
rific storm came on the next day. 

There being no wind, the nearly twelve miles' pull proved a 
long one, and just as the midnight hour struck and they were about 
to pull into their landing. Lew suggested that as the trip had 
proved so successful they should fire a salute. His suggestion was 
at once put into action, and on Bill's firing the fourth and last 
shot, Lew uttered the most prolonged and unearthly yell that ever 
came from* a human being ; this he could do to perfection. It was 
soon as still as death, but not for long, for out on to the yard 
bridge marines and watchmen ran ; up went windows in several 
houses on the river bank, and these questions asked : "Who are 
they?' ''Where are they?" "How many are killed?" And as the 
boat touches the beach, Lew, in an undertone, remarks, "We will 
let you know in the morning." 



T H I R D 

Feathers Won, Hair Lost ; 

or, A Close Shoot. 



CHAPTER I. 

AT this late day in Bill's life he loves to make 
mention of days when he hunted with the muz- 
zle-loader. And he certainly was an expert in 
loading one. In his shooting-coat were pockets for pow- 
der flask, shot-pouch, wads and caps; and those who could 
load a gun with him were scarce and hard to find. 

He had as a companion on one of these hunts with the old 
gun a most genial fellow, a great shot and a fine one to handle dogs 
in the field. And when one could have Captain John for a com- 
panion for a day's hunt, they certainly could consider themselves 
a little bit honored. He knew the ground for miles around and 
"when to hunt. And this day he and Bill "struck it rich," so to 
speak, that is, for a short hunt. 

It was late in the sixties that these two congenial spirits 
started on a hunt for woodcock. Although they were limited for 
time, they found what they started for. The first cover hunted 
proved a good one, six birds being bagged. And as this was a 
hurry-up hunt, no sooner were they in their team than they sped 
away for another cover some distance away. 

They were scarcely in the cover, when "Bang" — and Shot 
(Cap's dog) retrieves a woodcock. 

On coming out of the cover with four more birds, Captain 
John remarked, "Bill, you have got the making of a fine dog in 
that pup." And such proved to be the case. 

x\gain they are rattling over the road, and have quite a ride 



1 1 



12 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

before they haul up and get out, which is done, and mighty quick. 
But this cover is a small one, and but two birds are found, which 
are brought out with them. 

And now for the last ! When they rein up, jump out, and 
hitch their horse, Captain John remarks : "Fine cover. Should 
be birds here. But we are limited for time." And soon it's "Bang, 
Bang," by both; and birds come down. They have circled the 
cover, with Bill down a little ravine and out of sight of his com- 
panion, who is quite near to him when a bird is in the air, but. 
not for long. 

Captain John steps ahead, and on seeing Bill, says: "What 
are you doing?" 

"Don't you see ? Loading my gun." 

"What you loading for?" 

"Usually do after discharging it." 

"You didn't fire at that bird, did you?" 

"How do you suppose the bird was killed if I didn't fire?" 

"Why, I killed that bird." 

"You would have had to fire your gun to do it." 

"And that is just what I did." 

"We'll have to see you load it before I believe it," Bill laush- 
ingly replied: 

"And that is just what I will do." Saying this. Captain John 
loads up. 

"Well, did you ever?" was all that Bill could say. 

"How many birds have vou?" 

"Eight in my pocket, and this one that Shot has just brought 
in makes nine. How many have you, Bill?" 

"Eight." 

"Well, I have had many a hunt, but never before had ono 
come out like this one. ' 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 13 

Bill, like his clog, was young, and a little new to this kind of 
hunting; and on their way hack to their team Captain John re- 
marked, "What I said ahout the pup on coming out of the first 
cover, I can now say about you. Only it will be the dog's master that 
will he mighty good at this business, if he keeps on." 

On getting hack to their team, they were soon headed for 
home, and the hour's drive that it would take would fetch them in 
on time; so they wore feeling very joyful over the result of the 
day's hunt on arriving back. 



CHAPTER II. 



Both Bill and Captain John, on arriving back into town, 
found that they had plenty of time to get ready to go to their 
duties, which they did. And on receiving, the following morning a 
local paper, they were somewhat astonished to see an item that read 
like this: "Captain John S — of this city, and Mr. P — of the 
adjoining town, did in the short space of two hours bag seventeen 
woodcock. Sportsmen, beat this if you can." 

Bill's answer, when asked about it, was : "The number of 
birds is all right, but there was a little more than sixty minutes 
in them hours." 

Now, I merely make mention of this to show what came from 
it. About 10 o'clock, or some little time after the paper was re- 
ceived, "Old Webfoot" (so called), a noted mariner who had sailed 
the world around, and who was the pilot at the naval station, on 
running up against Bill, shouted : "Just the man I've been look- 

"What's the trouble, Webby ?" 

"Just made a bet about you and John." 

"What was it?" Bill asked. 



ing for 



i 4 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

"Why, I have made a bet of a quart of the best that can be 
had in the city, that what yon fellows shot yesterday were wood- 

■ chucks. Am I right?" 

"Yon go right back to the office and tell them fellows that you 

win the liquid." 

"I know'd d— n well that I had." 

Saying this, he starts on the run back, his haste being such 
that his coat-tails stuck out so that one could have played check- 
ers on them. 

He was that excited on entering the office, that all that he 

could say was : "I have won the bet." 

"How do you know?" Mr. E — asked. 

"Have just seen Bill." 
What did he say?" 

After I told him how the bet was made, he said that I had 
won the liquid." 

Now, Mr. E — had hunted with Bill, and he was bound to 
have the whole facts, as it had been left to him to decide. So he 
again asked "Webby" : "Tell me just what Bill said." 

"After I told him how I had made the bet, he said : 'Go back 
and tell them fellows that you win the liquid.' '" 

"Well, that ain'c sayin' they were woodchucks." 

At this Mr. A — spoke up, saying: "You don't know any 
more about a woodchuck than you do about woodcock. Why, man, 
they would have had to have a pair of horses to haul seventeen of 
such kind of animals. I don't believe you can come within forty 
pounds of what one weighs." The roar that came at Mr. A — 's 
saying this was heard all over the building; and then he said: 
"It's a small woodchuck that don't weigh sixty pounds." This 
-was said in such a way that "Webby" was convinced that he was 



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Hunting and Shooting Incidents 15 

all at sea on the weight of woodchucks, and at once said : "I will 
pay for the stuff, and let's get it d — n quick." 

"Won't I give it to Purdee this afternoon !" 

At this Mr. R — gave an awful shout, and on "Webby's" go- 
ing out of the office, turned to Mr. A — , saying: "Wa'n't you a 
little high on the weight of woodchucks?" 



a 



Not to convince 'Webby' that he had lost." 



Note. — These fellows were a jolly crowd. Would like to give 
names, but will say that Mr. E — is now a retired admiral. 



FOURTH 

He Got More Than He Went For. 



IT was many years ago, while Purdee was living on "Barberry 
Shore," of song fame, that he was asked by his wife to pick 
some of those berries he had promised. So one day she re- 
marked: "Promises will not get those berries; it will take a little 
work." 

That was enough. "You shall have them before night," and 
Purdee at once got ready to leave the house. Basket and strap he 
had gotten, which was all right, but when he put on his old shoot- 
ing jacket it was most too much for his wife, who smilingly re- 
marked: "Can't you pick berries without that jacket?" 

"I was thinking of taking the old gun along. It was frosty 
last night and I might find a snipe," was Purdee's answer. "I 
shall go up the river, cross over, and go to a place where I saw 
lots of berries a few days ago ; and to get there I shall have to go 
through a meadow and perhaps may start a snipe." 

On saying this he leaves the house for his boat, gun on his 
shoulder, basket strung to his side, and dog at his heels. His wife 
calls: "What have you got the basket for? Are you thinking of 
getting a bushel of snipe?" 

"Never mind; you'll find out when I get back." 

Saving this he started down towards the beach and was soon 
in his boat, pulling up the river with a fair tide in his favor. He 
soon landed on the opposite shore, some miles from his home and 
nearlv the same distance from where the barberries grew; but he 
had to pass through the meadow before reaching them, and on 

.arriving in sight of it, spoke to his dog Tommy, who was always 

17 



[8 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

at his heels when not hunting, saying : "Hie on, old boy, and find 
a snipe." 

Little did Bill think what a grand sight he was soon to see, 
as off Tommy starts at a galloping gait, with his head so high that 
his every move as he quarters the meadow is always in plain view. 
But Ho ! what's that ? Has he struck the stone wall ? He stopped 
so quick one would have thought that he had. He moves — he stops 
— he is there for good. 

"Go home and get your gun, and you need not hurry," as 
Bill did not. He leisurely walked into the meadow and close up 
to his clog, and when Bill clucked, his dog moved, and so did five 
snipe. 

"Bang! Bang!" and a snipe came down, and Bill marks the 
other four. 

The jumping of the five snipe was so unexpected that Bill 
said he was just a little flustrated, or a bit knocked out, but in a 
short time he had knocked out the other four snipe. 

Now the barberries he must get, and mighty quick if more- 
hunting he was to do; but before getting to where the barberries- 
grew, he flushed three more snipe and bagged two of them. He- 
was now near a beautiful spring, which he approached, and had a 
drink of water; he laid the snipe down, covering them with cool 
stones ; and as the barberries grew all in plain view of the. spring, 
he was on the point of leaving his gun with the birds, when for 
some reason unknown, he decided to take it to the old wall where- 
the berries grew. Wise decision it proved, for as he was getting 
over this stone wail, up Jumped a big woodcock; and the gun's not 
being at the spring, is why the woodcock came home with the snipe. 



Now, no doubt, most of my. readers have done the very things 
that Bill has done, and done, ,them much nicer, but I am going to- 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 19 

say right here that I don't believe one of you ever picked a basket- 
ful of barberries as quickly as Bill picked that one. Some one 
might ask how large it was. Well, it didn't hold a bushel, and Bill 
was awful glad that it didn't. When it was filled, he returned to 
the spring, had another drink, laid the woodcock (and wasn't he a 
bouncer? as large as any that he ever shot,) with the snipe, and as 
he had some time yet, asked his dog if they should cross over and 
hunt the old bog meadow, as they had often done before. Tommy 
answered, "Yes," in a way that Bill understood. They were soon 
in the road, and not having far to go, many were the words of 
praise spoken to the truest friend that man has ever had. 

And on his master uttering the words that he so well under- 
stood, "Hie on !" Tommy bounds away to the meadow which is in 
plain view. His actions soon indicated that birds there had been. 
He hauled on a point, standing stiff, and so firm his master from 
a distance stands still to admire, (and what lover of a dog would 
not) when the sound of the "cluck" he hears, the meaning of 
which he has been taught, it's no wild rush that he makes, but a 
slow creep, until off the ground a snipe does get, which by Bill is 
knocked down. When the meadow had been hunted, to the spring 
he returned with six more snipe, making thirteen in all. With 
the birds in his pockets and the big basket slung at his side, he at 
once homeward proceeds. 

On passing through the alders, bordering the first meadow 
hunted, he flushed several snipe and three times tried to knock 
one down; but the bushes and basket prevented him from getting^ 
on to the bird. On Bill's coming out into an opening where there 
was a wet spot, he sees his dog standing on a point. This was not 
on scent, but on sight, and as he looks in the same direction, he 
sees some distance ahead two grass-birds which he kills, one sit- 
ting, the other as it jumps into the air. 



20 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

Xow I presume some of the readers of these notes will say 
that wasn't sportsmanlike, and he might still say, neither was 
picking barberries. But I will say that I don't believe that one 
of you, would take your chances on a pair of birds, with a big bas- 
ket of berries slung at your side, but would kill both where they 

sat. 

Many years ago, when Bill was young at the business, an old 
hunter once told him, '"To learn to shoot snipe on the wing, you 
must shoot at them when Hying, and not while sitting." This in- 
struction, if such it could be considered, was by Bill strictly fol- 
lowed. 

x\s Purdee was to go on duty that night, he thought he had 
no time to spare, but did decide to look into a pond on a hill not 
much out of his way; and on sneaking close to its edge, just 
around a point, and near enough to shoot, saw a pair of teal ducks, 
one in the water, and the other on the bank. The latter he killed 
where it sat — the other while in the air. 

With these birds in his pockets, it was now get to his boat and 
home without further delay, if to duty he should go that night. 
As he had come up the river with the tide in his favor, he was now 
returning and the tide running with him. He soon was at home, 
and on entering his house, presented the basket of berries to his 
wife, and as he did so, said, "Those berries are what I went for," 
and as he placed the birds, which consisted of thirteen snipe, two 
teal, two grass birds, and one woodcock, beside the basket, re- 
marked, "Those are what I got." 



FIFTH 

The Rabbit Hunter of the Back Woods; 

or, Most Too Much Honor for One Day. 



WHEN the first snow of the season came this hunter, who 
was a dwarfish-sized man, took to the woods; also to 
the first track which he found; and when he let up a 
rabbit had given up, for he was never known to fail when once 
fairly started on one's trail. 

It was amusing to meet and talk with this most eccentric 
person, but Purclee had often had this pleasure, and his having it 
on this occasion was from Captain E/s desire to hunt more rab- 
bits; as expressed while returning with Purdee from a rabbit -hunt 
which he had gotten up. 

The party consisted of five persons, all entitled to be addressed 
as Captain, Purdee included. Most of these persons were of na- 
tional reputation, but that never counted when on one of these 
hunts, any more than it helped to kill rabbits. But they were all 
gentlemen, who left their rank behind, and were jolly good fellows 
and showed much respect for the one who killed his rabbit when on 
the jump; and on this particular day a number had been stopped 
when in the air, and by noon eleven large white rabbits had been 
bagged. But the best dog had caught and eaten the last one shot 
at, which was only wounded; this was goodby for any more hunting 
that day, but this dog went and laid down and there remained, 
with the other one standing by. 

On the way home Captain E. remarked "Now that I have had 
a taste of this sport, I want some more. Where can we go tomor- 
row, Purdee?" 



21 



-2 2 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

"Down to the hack woods/' said Bill. And to the back woods 
they went, and soon after entering it, their clogs went out of it and 
remained out most of the day. 

And now comes John Bracy, the rabbit hunter, to their aid, 

and when introduced as such to Captain E lie smiled, and in 

his little peculiar way said, "Quite an honor," and asked. "How 
many rabbits have you shot ?" 

"None," Purdee replies, "and I fear we will not shoot any 
todav, as the doers have left us." 

"Well, if the dogs have left you, suppose I take their place." 
At this Captain E smiled and asked. "Can you bark?" 

"Yes, up a tree," Bracy replies, and at the same time tells 
Purdee to go down the path to a certain tree and remain quiet. 

"And you, big fellow," — this to Captain E , "go up to that big 

rock, and if you keep awful quiet you may soon be able to catch a 
rabbit." Saving this Bracv starts circling- a thick growth of small 
pines; he keeps this up until not only one, but three rabbits jump 

into the wood road near where stood Captain E and down the 

road towards where Purdee stood they came; one was stopped by 

Captain E and one by Purdee. Soon after Bracy broke cover 

and asked, "What luck?" and on being told he showed signs of joy 
at what he had clone for them. 

Much talk was made over the shooting of these two rabbits and 

Bracy was asked by Captain E to explain how it was that he 

drove the rabbits out of the pines. So Bracy said, "I started the 
rabbits near the centre of the pines, and as they went around I kept 
a little on the inside and it wasn't manv turns around before thev 
had to get into the wood road where vou were standing-." 

"Well, that was a great scheme, and now let's have something," 
saying this Captain E takes from his pocket a flask in which 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 23 

was some extra good whiskey, at the same time asks for Pardee's 
drinking cup and presents them to Bracy, saying: 

"Now take a good nip; it will do you lots of good, after so 
much hard tramping through those thick pines." Bracy takes both 
flask and cup, at the same time saying, "The drinking with two 
Captains in one day is most too much honor for the likes of me ; 
hut however, here's good health to both of you." 



SIXTH 
A Quick Shot that Made a Fast Friend. 







F all the pleasant incidents in Purdee's life, none seem 
greater to him, at least, one can but think so, when in 



his presence, and he is reminded of the one which I am 
about to relate. 

When Pnrdee was young, and a very active fellow, he was 
hunting snipe one day, very late in the Spring. He had tramped 
on this particular day through many fields and meadows; he had 
had fine luck ; and as the better part of the day had passed, he was 
heading towards home, when he was hailed by a farmer, and mo- 
tioned to come to where he was standi 112:. 

On Purdee's reaching the bars where the farmer stood, he 
bids him good day; the farmer at once starts in to tell him how he 
wished that he had been there that morning. As Purdee saw that 
it meant quite a story, he uncocked his gun and stood it against 
the bars, leans over, and listens to what Dennis had to say. 

Now this man wasn't an Irishman, for the other part of his 
name was Manson. Well, Mr. Manson went on to say that soon 
after lie let his chickens out that morning, along came a big hawk, 
which swooped down, and away went one of his chickens. 

Now these chickens he had gotten out very early; and they 
would soon be fit for broilers, all of which he tells. "And about 
ten o'clock the blamed fellow comes back, and by cracky, if he 
don't get another; but I have them shut up now. As he has 
already gotten a taste of them, I fear that he will get the whole 
flock." 

"Why don't you shoot him ?" Purdee said. 

25 



• r 



26 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

"Shoot him ! bless your soul, I would have to get some one to 
catch him first ; why, I could never shoot anything on the wing." 

"Chickens are out, father !" This was said by young Dennis. 
"Blamed if they ain't, and it would be just the luck to have that 
tarnel hawk come along and get another. 

"We will have to get them in my boy." 

Father and son were just on the point of starting across the 
field to where the chickens were, when Purdee sees a shadow pass 
on the ground; he knew what it meant; and quick as a flash he 
catches his gun, and before it is at his shoulder, it is cocked; he 
swings completely around and kills the hawk, which was headed 
for the chickens, some distance away. 

At this Dennis slaps his leg with his hand and shouts, "Was 
the like of that ever done before ? I warrant you it never was." 

"Oh, my boy ! if you could only get to do the like of that, you 
would be a perfect wonder." This was said on young Dennis re- 
turning with the hawk, which had fallen some fifty yards away. 

Purdee has often said, that all the praise that he had ever 
gotten was small in comparison to what farmer Manson showered 
upon him for shooting the "tarnel critter" that was killing his 
chickens; and if one was ever welcome to hunt on another's land, 
it was Purdee on the land of farmer Manson, who has now passed 
the four score mark, but still delights, whenever he meets with 
Purdee, to make mention of this incident. 



S E V E N T H 

His Last Hunt with a Muzzle Loader. 

AS Bill Purdee told me the incident. I was more than inter- 
ested, for, in a measure, I was carried back to days when I 
myself delighted in field sports. 

It was away back in the early seventies, and in the "Old Pine 
Tree State," — the season of the year was early October, when he 
started out for a days hunt, with his old gun and a brace of fine 
setters. He was soon in cover, as he only had to cross a creek in 
his boat to reach it. 

The first bird flushed was an old cock partridge that did not 
lay to the dogs, but as Bill said, "Soon lay on his back," and 
was retrieved by Tom, the oldest dog. 

The fun had commenced, and such sport Bill said he never 
had in one day. The dogs behaved so well that he often called 
them in and told them so, and Bill declared that they knew just 
what he said. 

The seventh bird killed was a woodcock, and this on a brook, 
which he then followed down, bagging; five more. 

It was now noon, and after eating a lunch he commenced to 
work towards home, killing a few more birds and finally loaded 
up for the last time, as the two charges took all the shot in the 
pouch; it was getting late in the afternoon, but there was one 
more cover to look into. 

This last cover was at the cross roads, where a brook ran un- 
der the road, and on the bank of the brook were a few old apple 
trees, under which the dogs were working close, when all at once 
Bill heard a great "yelping," which came from the youngest dog. 

A large Newfoundland dog had come down from a farm 

27 



28 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

house near by, and was giving him a fearful shaking. Bill was 
close to an old stone wall running down the hill towards the 
brook, and being anxious to part the dogs, was not careful when 
getting over the wall, so a large part of it fell down. Up went a 
brace of woodcock, but they didn't stay up long, for Bill downed 
them, but he lost his footing and fell — just as he shot them — 
into the brook, where the dogs were righting. 

The fighting ceased mighty quick when lie rolled into it, and 
if a dog ever put his tail out of sight between his logs that New- 
foundland did as he scooted towards home. 

This was the neatest shot that Bill ever made ; at no time was 
he standing still after the wall commenced to fall, killing the 
second bird just before plunging into the brook. 

This ended what has always been, by him considered, the fin- 
est day's hunt that he ever had. 

With a bag of eleven partridges, nine woodcock, an empty 
shot pouch and a wet skin, lie started for home, and on arriving 
there found that while he was away, a friend had left a breech 
loader for him to try, which he did, and that is why this hunt, 
which ended with the most remarkable shot that he ever made, 
proved to be "his last shot with a muzzle loader." 



EI G H T H 
Outwitting the Geese, 



OX the 8th of November, 1875, I was invited with a friend 
to the home of Bill Purclee. We were shown what I 
have always claimed was the finest bunch of game that 
I, or in fact, anyone else, ever saw. It consisted of nine woodcock, 
seven partridges, five wild geese and one snipe. Now Bill did not 
get these- birds all in one day's hnnt, but it was the result of several. 

Next to seeing this fine lot of game, was listening to Bill 
tell how he ''outwitted the geese." 

As he told it, and as I remember, it was this : Bill had 
crossed the back river in his boat, as he said, and pointing to his 
dog, who lay at his feet, he went on with his story : 

If that wasn't the best broken setter dog that man ever shot 
over, not one of those geese would be lying there; for, after bag- 
ging most of those partridges and woodcock on that day. I had 
returned to my boat or near to where it lay, when I saw six geese 
some distance down the river feeding on a ledge. I at once mo- 
tioned to my dog to 'down' and did the same myself; the geese 
had seen me, but were not greatly frightened, for I made no move, 
and they soon commenced to feed again, but at no time were all 
heads down; for some one of them had his eyes on the spot where 

I lay. 

"A half hour had passed, and the geese had moved away from 

the ledge, and would soon be out of sight behind a point of rocks, 

and this would be my time. When the last goose had passed 

from my view, I jumped up, told Tom to remain, and started on 

the run up the cove some several hundred yards, where I crossed, 

and ran out on to the point opposite to where I had started from ; 

looked across the cove and saw that dog lying just as I left him." 

29 



30 Hunting and Shooting Iucidents 

When saying this he was pointing to his dog, who was still lying 
at his feet. "And he knows just what I am talking about." 

"I now had to do some sneaking, which I did, and crawled 
very close to them ; but I did not see them, as they were so close 
to the shore that I was deceived, and thinking that they must have 
swam back to the ledge I commenced to crawl in that direction. 
But I had not moved far when I heard that well known honk and 
the birds were in the air; and the only charge of big shot that I 
had was tunked into the nearest goose; he fell some twenty feet, 
then recovered and sailed away to the other side of the river, where 
he alighted and was soon joined by the others." 

"Just at that moment I had a spell of hating myself. I had 
crept to within twenty feet of them, and when they jumped out 
of the water I was with my back to them, and all in plain sight of 
them; this I did when crawling towards the ledge where I had 
first sighted them. 

"I now went back to my dog, and after patting him and say- 
ing: what any man who has ever broken a dog would sav, I started 
down the bank to my boat, crossed over, lauded, and worked up 
towards where I had seen the geese. I had told the dog to remain 
in the boat, and on returning with the goose, I found that he had 
done so. 

"As long as the goose which I had shot held his head up, the 
others stayed with him, but when he laid over they left him and 
new farther up the river and to the other side again, alighted, 
swam in shore and walked up on to a mowed marsh. 

"I had watched all their moves, and after they had become 
quieted, I crossed back to where I first saw them, landed, and told 
him to remain in the boat," pointing to his dog, "and started up 
to the main road, which I would have to enter in order to get 
around a cove. After passing around this, I would then be able 
to work back to the river, and to where the geese were last seen. 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 31 



«"! 



T had them well located, and knew just what I was to do when 
I got to an old stone Avail that ran from the road to the river, 
and behind this I crawled. It was not long before I could see the 
geese, and then it was 'head down' and keep it so for a long 
crawl, and on reaching the end of the wall, which was at the 
marsh, and around which I looked, I saw the geese some hundred 
yards up the cove. I laid still for a while and kind 0' rested, all 
the while thinking what my next move should be; I had crawled 
to the end of the wall, but not to the end of the game. 

"Connected to the wall was an old two-rail fence that ran 
out over the marsh to the flats, and on this was hanging a lot of 
eel-grass. As there seemed no possible way of getting near the 
geese (which would have to be pretty close, for number six shot 
was the largest that I had, and only two charges of that size, the 
rest being number eight), I conceived the idea of crawling out on 
the marsh to the water, then to turn and creep towards them. 

"I had reasoned in mv mind that if thev did not make me 
out before I got to the water, they would think me to be something 
that had come out of the water, and their curiosity would get the 
best of them. 

"To do this, and to do it right, was a fearful hard job. I 
dare not raise my head, and the only movement which I made was 
forward, and only what the motion of my shoulders would move 
me, and at no time raising mv body from the mown marsh. 

"After commencing to creep towards the geese, I never saw 
them until I was within forty yards of them, then I began to won- 
der if it wasn't possible to catch them. They had all the time been 
watching persons working in a field on the opposite side of the 
river, and were looking over me all the while. It was not possible 
to approach them unseen, for hundreds of yards in any direction,, 
and there I was coming at them right out of the water, and at a 
snail's pace, and no wonder they waited to see what it would turn 



32 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

cut to be. (0 ! why did you wait, silly goose?) I had gotten near 
enough for number six, but nearer I must get for number eight, 
and nearer I got. 

"When I decided to shoot, I placed extra shells out in front 
of me, drew my knees up under me and raised my head; at the 
same time my gun came to my shoulder, and two geese laid their 
heads on their backs without a quiver. The others were in the air, 
but not for long, for down came one and out came the empty 
shells, in went loaded ones and down came another goose, and 
away went a sick one down to the lower end of the river, where a' 
boy picked him up that night. 

"After I got the birds together, I sat down, and I needed to, 
for I had undergone great exertion, and was in a very bad condi- 
tion, wet, and covered with salt mud. 

"But after a short rest, I started with the geese for my boat, 
and on getting there told Tom all about it, and what a good dog 
he had been, to reamin all this time in the boat, didn't I, Tom?" 
Saying this he patted him on the head. 

"I had quite a load to carry home after leaving the boat, and 
with my game pockets bulging out with partridges and woodcock, 
the geese tied together and slung over my shoulders, I was quite a 
sight to look at. and as one person whom I met in the road re- 
marked, Tf it was a little later in the season, I should take you 
for Santa Clans/ 

"Now, gentlemen, you can decide whether the geese were out- 
witted or not." 

At this remark we both complimented Bill on the wonderful 
knowledge which lie had shown ; and his great persistency in car- 
rying it out, and at bidding him good-bye. we both felt that we 
had had a rare treat; in fact, it had been, as the fellow said, "The 
real stuff." 



NINTH 
A Hunt and a Find Without His Gun. 

ONE day many years ago, Pardee received a message from 
Captain E. requesting him to come to his office, 
as he had something which he wished him to attend to. 

On Bill's entering the office, the Captain smilingly remarked, 
"Just why I have sent for von, Purdee, I am unable to say. Sit 
down and I will tell you what has happened. Yesterday, while 

the young ladies were out boating, Miss M unfortunately 

lost a bracelet which had been in the family for, lo ! these many 
years, and considered an heirloom. After much talk at the house 
last night by all, relative to this loss, I was requested many times 
to give an opinion whether anything could be done in the way of 
finding it, but as I knew not where the boat was when the bracelet 
was lost, could not say a word. In the midst of a silence, Grandma 

W — says, 'Send for Purdee.' The rest of the ladies joined 

in, and it was just a shout. 'Send for Purdee V For the life of me 
I don't know why I did, but as you are here, is there any suggestion 
vou can offer?" 

"Yes, I will later, but Captain, you must have had some idea 
of what to do when you sent for me." 

"Well, I did. I thought that you might get a lot of boys from 
the village, and at low tide this evening, fetch them in and take 
them down on the flats and hunt them over, and there is ten dollars 
which you can divide up among the boys. Now what do you think 
of this idea?" 

"Don't like it. Why; get a lot of those boy hoodlums, and 

they would be watching the actions of each other, and it is two to 

33 



34 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

one, if it is on the flats, that it would be trodden on by some of 
them and then it would be good-by bracelet. I will come in about 
noon, when the tide will be the same as yesterday, take the young 
ladies down the river in the boat, and perhaps we can locate where 
they were when the bracelet was lost. At least we may be able to 
find out whether the boat was out in the channel. If it was, that 
ends it. When I return I will come back here and report results." 

Saying this. Bill leaves the office, and on his return goes to 
the house and tells the ladies what lie has decided to do. 

They are soon ready and in a short time are rowed down the 
river near where they supposed they were the day before. 

They pulled around for some time, Bill all the while asking. 
"Was it down farther, or out farther, or nearer the shore?'* 

This was kept up for some time, with no two agreeing, each 
one of the ladies having different opinions as to the location of the 
boat when the bracelet was lost. At last lie decided to return, and 
on arriving back went to the office (while the ladies returned to 
the house.) The Captain asked, "Learned anything definite?" 

"Yes," Bill replied. 

"What was it ?" 

"That a bracelet was lost. They all three agreed on this 
point, but no two on the position of the boat. While one would 
have her out in the channel, another would have her near the shore, 
but my opinion is that the boat was in over the flats when it was 
lost, and this evening at low tide I will come in and have a look 
for it." 

On saying this he starts to leave the office, when he turns and 
says, "Tell Grandma W— that Bill will find the bracelet." 

At six P. M. he is at the house, puts on the Captain's Avading 
boots, and with Tommy, his dog, starts, or is about to start for 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 35 

the fifty acre flats., when the Captain asks, "What part is Tommy 
going to act ?" 

"Find the bracelet." 

At this reply all were pleased, and Bill heads for the flats 
with the heart v good wishes of all. 

Xow it may by many be thought strange that Bill should take 
his dog along on a hunt of this kind. He knew his dog for he had 
raised him. He also knew that anything that glistened in the sun- 
light, even be it far away, would attract his attention, and as this 
day was a bright one, the sun casting its rays on the flats at an 
angle that would cause anything bright to sparkle, he hoped if the 
bracelet was there that his dog might be attracted by its reflections. 
In starting in to hunt the flats he was bound to scan it well, and 
as he quarters back and forth, keeping his dog all the time at a 
certain distance, he would, if he had had his gun with him, have 
been taken for one ahunting, although it was the month of June. 

He wasn't exactly discouraged, but he was getting over lots 
of ground and the sun was getting low, and the dog was no doubt 
wondering what this all meant, for nothing of this kind did he 
ever do before. All at once Bill sees his dog looking at something 
some forty yards away. Bill looks. He moves towards where the 
doe; seems to be looking, and what is that he sees some sixty yards 
away? He moves and so does his dog. The glistening object he 
still sees, although so far away. "It's nothing but a broken glass 
bottle," he thinks, but still nearer he went and brighter did the 
object grow, until now he felt quite confident that no bottle had 
he seen. And nearer still he went, until, in perfect wonder, he sees 
the bracelet, half covered with eelgrass, and in the rays of the now 
setting sun shining as no piece of gold ever shone before; that is, 
he thought so. On picking it up he looked back to where he was 
when he first noticed his dog, and as he at the time was heading, 



36 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

he would have passed it by. So calling Tommy, he showed him 
the bracelet, told him of the wealth he had found, and in many 
ways petted and praised him. 

Now Bill was feeling just a little elated, and who would not ? 
As he left the flats it was growing dark and as the walk to the 
house was some distance, he had many things to think of. He 
knew that all at the house would be highly pleased on their learn- 
ing of the result of his hunt for the bracelet. It was quite dark 
as Bill reached the house, and going to the rear he took off the 
muddy boots and put on his shoes. The cook on hearing him, 
hailed, sa}dng, "I see you got back, Mr. Purdee; and what luck 
did you have?" 

She had spoken so loud that they heard her in the dining 
room and a grand scamper was made by all for the kitchen. Bill, 
hearing this move, stepped inside where the cook was ironing, but 
to this day cannot tell what prompted him. He had just time to 
pick up a muffin ring, that the cook was using to put her iron on, 
when all rushed into the kitchen shouting, "Did you find it?" 
Bill replied, "Yes, but it don't seem to be worth enough to make 
such a fuss about." And as he said this the Captain stepped for- 
ward, and Bill placed the muffin ring in his hand. The Captain, 
with great astonishment, said, "And why — why — this isn't the 
bracelet !" 

"Well, then, that is," said Bill, as he from his other pocket 
produced what was called an heirloom in the family. 

At this, such a shout went up as never before was heard in the 
old mansion. "Now tell us all about it — everything. We must 
know." 

As Bill finished telling he said, "Now, you must see the one 
who found it," He steps to the back door, utters a whistle, and 
soon Tommy stands looking in the door. All go and pat him on 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 37 

the head, and ask where he has been all this time, he being all cov- 
ered with mud. 

"I told him to charge down when I came through the garden 
gate, and he always does about what I tell him to do." 

The Captain- now passed Bill a ten dollar note. 

"To accept that, sir, would mar the great pleasure which suc- 
cess in finding the bracelet has given me." 

He now bids all good night, and starts, with many kind words 
showered upon him, for his home. 



T EN T H 
Camping Out. 



CHAPTER I. 
PUR-DEE AS A FISHERMAN. 

IT was while Purdee was camping out in the state of New Hamp- 
shire, that he tried his hand at fishing. The tent had heen 
set up in a beautiful hard wood grove, on the banks of a lovely 
lake, and near by was one of nature's greatest gifts to man — a 
boiling spring. 

Mr. L and Purdee go fishing. They have fine luck. 

Black bass, pickerel and perch are the kind of fish they catch. 

The black bass gave royal sport, and each had listened to the 
click of the other's reel after the bass had struck, and often did 
they witness that beautiful sight which all anglers love to see, his 
fish (or what he expects soon will be) "break water/' and leap 
high into the air. 

It had gotten quite dark and they were nearing their camp, 

when they heard a splash quite near the boat, and Mr. L ■ 

says, "Make a cast with your line, Purdee, and I will move the 
boat slow." This Purdee did several times, until he got a strike, 
and then a spin on his line. After a while he thinks he has the 
fish under control, and his companion is all ready to use the net, 
when the fish decided to go, and he went. This same thing was 
done several times, when Purdee remarks, "What in the name of 
heavens have I hooked?" 

"Don t know," Mr. L replies. 

Again this unknown fish was reeled up to the side of the boat, 
the landing net was in the water, but he escapes. 

"But it's now I have got him sure," Purdee shouted, "for he 

is this time coming slow," and Mr. L with a dexterous move 

39 



40 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

succeeds in getting the net under the fish, and the fish is soon in 

the boat when Mr. L shouts, "You've got him, he's caught at 

last." 

It being dark, Purdee in the stern of the boat asks, "Got 

what ?" 

"Why the much talked-of sea serpent that's reported as hav- 
ing been seen off the coast. But for the life of me I cannot under- 
stand how he got so far inland." 

At this Purdee moves forward and makes out what Mr. L 

had already discovered, the biggest eel that he ever saw. 



CHAPTER II. 
SHOOTING UPLAND PLOVER. 

On returning to camp, both had much to say about the day's 
catch, and as they sat by their camp fire, and Purdee listened to 

tales of Wonderland far beyond the seas as told by Mr. L ., 

and then by Mr. T , he thinks of how much there is yet for 

him to see. 

Before going to sleep, they had decided that the next day 
should be spent hunting plover, and at early dawn all was life in 
the camp. Breakfast over, all three start for the hills where Pur- 
dee said plover could be found if they were in that part of the 
country. 

On reaching the top of the hill they enter an open pasture of 
great extent. Purdee in the centre with a partner on each side 
some eighty yards away. Now Purdee was an old hand at this 
business and both those with him knew it well, for they had often 
with him hunted this bird— the wildest of his tribe, for this is 
what the upland plover is by all considered. 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 41 

Purdee had made mention to his companions before entering 
the pasture what they would do when birds were seen. Now it is 
a well known fact that if this bird does not get on the wing at the 
first sight of a man, one can gain a few yards by making a quick 
run the moment birds are sighted. Purdee rising a little knoll, 
sights birds on the grounds, makes a run, gains a few yards, and 
the birds go in the air. He now makes the shots of his life. 
"Bang !" "Bang !" and two birds come down. Opening his gun he 
takes out the shells and puts others in. "Bang!" and down comes 
another bird. 

When this feat had been performed his companions came to 

him and were loud in their praise, Mr. T saying, "Teach me 

to do that trick and five hundred dollars Fll give you." 

"How far was that last bird killed?" Mr. L asks. 

"Don't know, and we never will. He was so high in the air 
when shot that he must have forged ahead many yards before strik- 
ing the ground." 

They continued hunting these birds, and before noon had 
bagged a fine bunch of them, which are by many considered the 
best of all. On returning to camp they have dinner, then go fish- 
ing, and that night as they sat watching the flicker of their camp 
fire, they tell of the click of the reel as one or the other had got a 
strike. 

And now it is the plover which they that day had shot, that 
are being killed over again, when Purdee is asked what is the great- 
est distance at which he could kill one of these birds. 

"That is something I cannot say; but the greatest distance at 
which I ever killed one was on the commons where we hunted just 
before coming 11 n here. It is mostly guess work when one states 
distance on having killed a bird on the wing, but the one that I 
will mention jumped from the ground near the old board fence, 



42 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

which you will remember divided the field from the pasture. I 
was coming clown the field and was near the big oak when this 
plover jumped. I caught my gun on to him just before he reached 
the fence and clown he came in an instant. I knew it was a long 
shot, so I placed my old hat where I stood and in much haste ron 
for the oid fence, all the time thinking it possible the bird might 
again get up, and so he did. But not until I got over the fence and 
picked him up. On getting back over the fence I paced back to 
where the old hat lay and the last step which touched it made 
sixty-seven paces from the fence, not from where the bird laid. 
The bird was not four feet from the ground when killed. This 
with No. 8 and 5 pellets did the business. Lew Sears, the old hun- 
ter, whom you all know, saw the whole performance. " 



<a 



CHAPTER III. 
EXPECTING THE LADIES OUT TO CAMP. 

: Say fellows, I forgot to tell you I got word yesterday that 
the ladies are coming out from the hotel to see how people live 
when camping out." 

This was said by Mr. T . 

"What time will they get here?" Mr. L asks. 

"The note merely says, 'You can expect us at your camp 
about noon.' " 

"It's getting late, boys; let's turn in and think what can be 
done to please the ladies." This Purdee says. And as sleep is a 

duty with him, they hear no more from him until Mr. L hears 

these words : "Pass me my gun quick and put a shell in it." As 
these words are uttered by Purdee, he stands immovable in the 
tent door, with his eye, centered on some object in a tree near by. 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 43 

The gun is in his hand, no move has he yet made, but when he does 

Mr. T is awakened by the report of a gun, and a big gray 

squirrel comes tumbling down. 

"You boys start a fire, and I will try and find another." Say- 
ing this Purdee leaves the camp. 

Soon afterwards the report of a gun is heard, and then it's 
still again. But not for long ; this time it's a double shot. 

Those in camp hear the shots, and some little time afterwards 
Purdee returns to camp, and they say to him, "Three shots out of 
Bill Purdee's gun means three dead squirrels." 
"Not today, gentlemen." 
"How is that ?" is asked. 

"Well, the first shot was meat for sure," saying this he throws 
down a squirrel, "but a little farther along, as I was on the point 
of pulling and could not stop, this one sprang from where he sat; 
the shot missed him, but he never reached alive the object sought, 
for the second barrel caught him on the fly." Saying this he lays 
down another. 

THE DIOTEK. 
Breakfast over they now prepare for dinner. Purdee shows 
his companions how quick a squirrel can be skinned. This little 
job being done they are laid in cold water in which a little salt 

is put. 

It is now the fish that are to be prepared, and as Mr. L 

bas claimed special knowledge in this particular line, they are 

turned over to him. 

Mr> t is as anxious as any to lend a hand and is given 

the plover to pluck. These Purdee takes and soon has ready for 

the broiler. 

Plenty of oak chips from timber cut the past winter are gath- 
ered bv all and three nice fires are burning bright, and over each 



44 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

something was being cooked, not by professionals, but later the 
meal was voted by those who ate it, "a dinner fit for a King." And 
could a dinner be otherwise considered which consisted of fried 
perch, broiled black bass, squirrel stew, broiled upland plover on 
toast, boiled green corn, potatoes roasted in the ashes, and coffee? 

The most amusing part of this feast occurred when Mr. L 

made mention of how regrettable it was that thev had not earlier 
received notice of the ladies coming to camp, for if they had they 
would surely have had something in the way of dessert. Immedi- 
ately Mrs. T replies, saying, "Thinking that you might be 

lacking in delicacies, we have brought pie." 

After spending six days in camp the party returned home, 
and it was the unanimous voice of all that it was the finest outing 
that they ever had. 



ELEVEN T H 



Bill's Last Hunt with the Commodore; 

or, Who Killed the Squirrel — The Man That Pointed the 
Gun, or the Man That Pulled the Trigger? 



H 



CHAPTEE T. 

WHY CAN'T WE GO HUNTING? 

AVE von any engagement for tomorrow, when yon go off 
duty?" was the question put to Bill by Commodore 
E . 

"Nothing in particular," Bill replied. 

"Why can't we go hunting ?" 



"Nothing to hinder. 



•• 



ai 



'Will you come down, or shall I drive out to your place?" 

Til be at the end of the old road at six. You know my motto,. 
'The first in the covers gets the birds.' " 

"All right," replied the Commodore, "I will not keep you wait- 
ing. How is Old Tommy, — the finest dog that I ever hunted 
over ?" 

"It's a long time ago, Commodore, since you first said those 
words. And well do I remember the occasion." 

"And so do I. It was the first day that we ever hunted to- 
gether; and when we drove up to that meadow you said, 'We 
will let the dog hunt this place (a flat piece of land of fifty acres 
or more, which ran from the road to the river.) I started to get 
out when you remarked, 'We will remain in the carriage and watch 

the dog,' who was quartering the ground in grand style. The dog 

45 



"1 



(r 



46 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

soon returned to the team, when you remarked, 'Nothing there.' 
I could not believe it." 

'But you did later, Commodore." 

'Yes, but not until after we had tramped all over that piece 
of ground together." 

At the appointed time the following morning, the Commodore 
reined up at the end of the road, and Bill and his dog got into the 
carriage. "How do you like your new horse ?" Bill asked. 

"Hardly know. Haven't driven him. Will know more about 
him before we get back," was the Commodore's answer. And such 
proved to be the case. 



CHAPTEE II. 
WHO SHOT THE SQUIEKEL? 

As there was an hour's drive to be had, behind this new horse 

(which was quite a spirited one), before they would arrive at the 

first cover, much was said relative to his points. But as Bill never 

•claimed any special knowledge of a horse, he merely assented, when 

the Commodore made mention of what to him seemed good ones. 

They arrived at the first cover in due time, got out, hitched 
the horse, and as they were about to enter the cover Bill remarked, 
"Is it meat that we have come for todav ?" 

"That is just what we are here for," the Commodore replied; 
"and don't you wait for me, but kill your bird." 

Bill enters the cover, while the Commodore keeps in the open, 
following along the edge, when the well known word of Bill, 
"Mark !" — and the report of his gun were heard ; also the words, 
^'Dead bird, Tommy." 

These words the Commodore had often heard. 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 47 

Two more shots from Bill before he gets through the thick 
cover that borders the brook. He hails, and when answered, tells 
the Commodore to move ahead and remain still, as the dog is trail- 
ing a partridge. This he could do to perfection. 

Again the word, "Mark," — and bang ! This time it is the re- 
port of his companion's gun which Bill hears; and as he breaks 
cover on the side hill, lie sees his companion standing in the open- 
ing; and when hailed, "Is it a dead bird?" was told that he did not 
know. 

"I was well on to my bird, but it was so close to the thick 
cover there at the board fence, that I could not tell if he came 
down." 

"We will soon find out ;" — and Bill motioned the dog over the 
fence. He soon returned, bringing with him an old cock partridge. 

Now, of all the hunting companions that Bill ever bad, — and 
they have been many — who felt, as one might say, "royally good," 
over killing a bird, none ever felt more so than did his companion 
of this day, whenever he knocked down one of these birds — the 
hardest (by many considered) to shoot on the wing, and when the 
bird by the Commodore was taken from his mouth, no dog ever 
before had such words of praise showered on him. 

After hunting the hillside they tramped over the top of the 
hill, and down to the lower end of the cover, where a few patches 
of alders grew, and near them stood some walnut trees. As Bill 
Avas about to enter the alders, he sighted a gray squirrel running 
down a board fence, and on nearing the trees it jumped into one of 
them. From where he stood he could have shot him, but he wished 
his companion to do it, telling him the tree that the squirrel was 
in; but he could not locate him; so Bill endeavored to do so for 
him by counting the limbs, from the lower one to the one that the 
squirrel had bis paws around. 



48 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

After doino- this several times, the Commodore said, "For the 
life of me, I cannot make him out, so you shoot." 

"No, you point your gun about five feet from the top of the 
tree." At the same time Bill, stepping behind, said, "A little 
higher — to the left — more — steady — pull ;" and down came the 
biggest squirrel that either ever saw. The Commodore turned 
around and remarked, "Who in H — shot the squirrel? The man 
who sighted the gun, or the one that pulled the trigger ?" 

This incident was quite amusing to them both, and for some 
little time after picking up the squirrel they stood chattering about 
it, but had no sooner started to go than both asked where the dog 
was. "He can't be far away." Saying this Bill enters the alders 
and shouts, "The lost has been found," for a short distance ahead 
of him stands his dog, and a grand sight it was. But it's only for 
a moment, and "Whirr-r" and the lightning flyer is headed for the 
pines on the hillside. But he never reached there for he was inter- 
cepted with lead from Bill's gun as he passed over his head. 

'A grand shot," is the word that comes from his companion. 

c And to make such pays one well even if it's all one does after 
a hard day's tramp. 

"That is what you said the first time we went fox hunting,, 
when the hounds ran the fox out of town, and never returned with 
him until late in the afternoon. He was shot just ahead of the dogs 
whom we heard as they were fetching him back. And such music 
no instrument ever made. 

"Just before the dogs came to us, and as we were moving a Ion sr 
in the wood road beneath those giant pines, out jumped a partridge 
and although we were greatly surprised we were no more so than 
the bird when he was brought down. It was then that you ut- 
tered the very same words that you have now uttered; and when lie 
was found, which was by you, but it was after listening for a while, 



a 



a 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 49 

and after quite a hunt for the bird, that you stepped into the brush 
and pulled him out of the snow, held him up and as you did so re- 
marked, 'This is one of the few good things that one gets from 
listening.' " 

"Purdee, you've got a memory like a horse, for that was many 
years ago. 7 " And as the Commodore uttered these words they ar- 
rived back to their team. 



CHAPTER III. 
THERE GOES THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS TO THE DEVIL. 

On getting into their carriage, it was, "Purdee, which way 
shall we now head?" 

"We'll turn around, drive back half a mile, take the first road 
to the right, and go up that a mile or so, which will fetch us on to 
that hill," indicating the one with his hands. "And down on the 
other side is as fine a woodcock cover as anyone ever hunted." 

But I'm sorry to say they never hunted it. 

How little did these congenial spirits think of what was soon 
to happen as they drove back on the road and up over the hill, 
chatting all the while about how well thev had done in the first 
•cover. And such a glorious day ! "And to be away from one's 
•duties, if only for a few hours, causes one to almost wish that he was 
an Indian." This was laughingly said by the Commodore. 

"We'll hitch here," said Bill, indicating a pair of bars with his 
hand, "and for a while will have the freedom of the people which 
you have just named." 

Did they have it? No, not that day. 



50 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

On getting out of their carriage it was decided to give the horse 
his dinner. 

Did he get it? Not that day. 

Why? Because, on the Commodore's taking the bridle off his 
head, he was unable to hold him with the halter which he had put 
around his neck, for when the horse looked around to see what he 
was hitched to, he sprang forward and at a fearful gait went gal- 
loping down a steep hill, over the roughest road that man ever saw, 
the Commodore remarking, "There goes three hundred dollars to 
the Devil." 

This was no doubt a fearful sight to both of them ; but just be- 
fore the horse reached the bottom of the hill, the carriage went over 
on its side and down went the horse against a stone wall, so both 
thought, and killed for sure. But when they saw his head come 
up, and him in a moment after make a fearful lunge and come on 
to his feet clear from the carriage, and hear a fearful snort as he 
jumps the stone wall and with tail high in the air goes galloping 
through a field, the Commodore remarked, "Did you ever see the 
like before ? Go it ! There certainly are no bones broken." 

They both walked down the hill to where the wrecked carriage 
lay, and on approaching it the Commodore said, "Look ! Did you 
ever ! Why, them wheels haven't stopped going yet !" And such 
was the case, for as the carriage laid on its side the two upper wheels 
were still spinning around. 

"Lucky we took our guns with us when we got out, for look at 
the eatables, drinkables and the birds! Look! See the squirrel! 
One would think him to be alive as he lies on that rock over there 
in the stone wall." And on saying this the Commodore also re- 
marked, "I believe, Purdee, we missed it in not eating that lunch. 
It is all scattered in the dirt. Not a thing is left. I will gather up 
the birds if you will go look for the horse." 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 51 

"See that you get them all, for I fear we have killed the last 
one for this time. Five woodcock, two partridge, one squirrel." 
Saying this Bill goes over the wall where the horse had a short time 
before preceded him. The horse was not only found but with the 
assistance of a farmer whom Bill knew, was driven into the corner 
of a field where he was caught and taken to the stable of the farmer, 
who was kind enough to loan them both buggy and harness, and 
after a bit they hitched up and with many kind words to their friend 
the farmer, started for home, where in due time they arrived; and 
that night Bill returned with a suitable team, fetching the outfit 
loaned him- by the farmer, and hauled back the wreck. 

Soon afterwards the Commodore was ordered to sea and that 
is why this hunt proved to be the last one with the most genial com- 
panion that Bill ever had. 




PURDEE AT THIRTY-SIX 

When in California. 



T W E L F T H 



Three Good Shots. 



ON Purclee being asked what was the best shot he ever made, 
he replied : "That is something that would need time 
to think over, but I could say what shots gave me the 
greatest satisfaction." 

On his being asked to name them, he started in, as I remem- 
ber, by saying: "In the year 1880 I was on board the U. S. S. 

and lying off San Francisco, California, was on shore one night, 
and while in company with two shipmates, was accosted by a Mr. 
B — in this way : 'I hear that you have quite a reputation as a 
wing shooter, but I think that I can beat you at shooting at a 
target ; at least I am willing to risk a bottle of wine that I can do 
it. What do you say to this ?' " 

" 'Well, Mr. B — , I presume that you must be well versed in 
this kind of shooting, and have no fear of loosing either wine or 
reputation, and would feel offended if I declined to shoot; so you 
just lead the way to the nearest shooting gallery, make any ar- 
rangements you see fit, and a friendly contest we will have.' 

"In a very short time the four of us were in a gallery, and 
Mr. B — called the proprietor and made known his business, and 
was told that he had the finest air guns in the state, and by pay- 
ing for it could shoot as long as they liked. 

" T want none of your air guns ; this is to be settled by fire 
arms/ was Mr. B — 's answer; 'if you have none we'll go elsewhere/ 
"The only fire arm that I have is an old style 44 Colt's re- 



a tr 



volver. 

" 'Just the thing,' Mr. B — replied. 'Trot it right out,' which 

S3 



54 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

was done. It proved to be an old timer, as percussion caps had to 
be used; it was soon loaded, and a coin was nipped to decide who 
should shoot first, and it fell to Purdee. 

"The target that was to be shot at represented a full sized 
man painted in gay colors, with one arm extended over his head, 
and a picture representing a heart on his left breast. All limbs 
were numbered with different figures, each one signifying a part 
of the 100 which the heart or bull's eye represented, and when 
this bull's eye was made it was announced by the ringing of a bell. 

"As Purdee stepped forward to shoot, and as he was raising 
the revolver, the proprietor touched Mr. B — on the arm, at the 
same time saying, 'Step back a bit, as the old thing blows when 
discharged, and you might get some powder in your face.' Mr. B — 
steps back, Purdee shoots, the bell rings, and the proprietor re- 
marks, 'That has never been done with the old pistol before.' 

"It is again loaded and passed to Mr. B — . whom all see has 
a slight tremor; he shoots, the target is hit in the leg, and Mr. 
B — remarks, 'I feared that the d — n thing would burst : is there 
any danger?' 

'No,' the proprietor replies; 'it is only sprung a little so 
that it blows powder out at the side.' 

"Again it is loaded, and Purdee shoots; another bull's eye is 
scored, and Mr. B — remarks, 'I am beat; it is no use to shoot any 
more.' But when told that his other two shots might prove bull's 
eyes, and Purdee might make a clear miss with his other shot, he 
decided to try again, with the result that the extended arm was 
hit. At this a stranger present remarked: 'He has shot below, 
and he has shot above ; the next will be the heart, sure.' 

"This bit of sally caused a great laugh, and Mr. B — said he 
would pay, but on the proprietor requesting that the other two 
shots be made, they decided to shoot them. Purdee shot the third 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 55 

time, and a great shout went up from the great number that had 
gathered in the gallery ; and when the proprietor remarked, 'Three 
bull's eyes with three shots from an old revolver is a record that 
will never be beaten/ the crowd gave another shout. 

"Mr. B — did not want to shoot his third shot, but all insisted 
that he should; and so he did, but he was now so rattled that the 
target was not hit at all. He then explained that when told to 
step back, for fear that he might get powder blown in his face, 
it so unnerved him that it was a wonder that either of his shots 
struck the target. On paying for the shots he says : 'Now, boys, 
we will try that wine, and God help the man who trys to beat Bill 
Purdee with a revolver.' " 



Note No. 1. — "The two shipmates that witnessed this shooting 
are now officers in the service of our Uncle Samuel, and will be 
pleased when reading of this incident, which happened so many 
years ago." 

Note No. 2. — "In 1866 Purdee did with a revolver Avhat was 
called a most wonderful thing; it is this: while in a boat pulling 
around 'Dead Man's Island' in the Bay of Panama, he made a 
record of hitting three out of five Land Crabs, shot at as they ran 
up the clift of rocks. This was done many times: boat and crabs 
were both moving; the crabs were the size of one's hand." 



T H I R TEEN T H 



Tommy Finds His Master. 



IT was when Purdee was young that he raised and trained a 
fine setter; he was what many noted dog fanciers often pro- 
nounced to be the finest working dog, in cover and field, that 
they ever saw. He was so well trained and obedient to his mo- 
tions that he rarely ever had to speak to him. He had a way which 
he could not have taught him, that is, have a bird between them, 
so that when flushed (which he would always do when he heard 
his master cluck) it was invariably driven out of the cover, giving 
his master an open shot. 

His staunchness when on a point was remarkable; one could 
always call one's companion and take all the time that one wished 
before he would flush the bird. 

Just how long he would stand a bird, Purdee is unable to say ; 
but when in meadows, hunting snipe, he always allowed him to 
range, and he often had to go over hills to other meadows to find 
him; that is, when he did not show up in a reasonable length of 
time ; and oh ! what a sight he has often seen, as the same would be 
to all lovers of the dog, when found, as rigid as marble; and, 
brother sportsman, Purdee will never forget the position in which 
he at one time found him. It might be called a quarter point, for 
his body was twisted so that it was nearly a right angle, with one 
fore foot raised from the ground. This was the position in which 
he found him. How long he had been in such a position he is 
unable to say, but he does know that it was the longest hunt that he 
ever had to find him. 

What can be said of the joy and pleasure which that dog felt. 

57 



5 8 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

when he knew that his master had found him ? We can't say any- 
thing • but then we can think a heap, for, on Purdee' s approaching 
him, the momentary relaxing of his tail, the slightest little wag, 
and all was rigid again, his eyes bulging and ablaze as never be- 
fore ; he was pointing a wisp of snipe. 

Purdee left his home ; was absent three long years. Yes, read- 
ers of these incidents, they were long years, for when one has to re- 
main away from all that is dear to him, as Purdee did, for that 
length of time, he would find that a part of his life had passed by. 

Before leaving home, he bid good-bye to all. His dog, with 
the rest, watched him out of sight, and many and many were the 
times, and for months, he watched the spot where his master 
passed out of sight. 

I will now ask those of kindred spirits what they think 
would have been the feelings of his dog at some time after 
sitting for hours watching the spot where his master passed from 
view, to have seen him return ? 

Well, he did return, and oh ! what joy to find all well who 
were so dear to him; but to his old dog he was a stranger and re- 
mained so for several days ; not in any possible way could he make 
friends with him. 

But four days after arriving home, it being springtime, Pur- 
ree decided to go snipe shooting. After getting into his hunting 
clothes, he picked up his gun and spoke to his dog, who reluctant- 
ly followed him. He had some distance to go, and before reach- 
ing the snipe grounds, his dog started to go back home; but as 
Purdee was most keenly watching his every move, he discharged 
his gun, as he was on the point of turning to leave him, and called 
out "Dead bird, Tommy.** These were the words that he had 
spoken a thousand times to him. whenever he wished him to seek 
ior a dead bird. 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 59 

The discharge of the gun seemed to put new life into him, who 
was now thirteen years old; with some little more coaxing they 
soon passed over a hill, where a snipe meadow was all in view., and 
his dog starts off as in days gone by. 

And as Purclee stood watching his every move, he asks him- 
self, "Was there ever such another dog?" And when he draws on 
a point, the sight was so beautiful to him that he decided in his 
own mind that there never was. But on the bird being flushed 
and downed, and soon another, he was still a stranger to his dog- 
But on killing the fourth bird, he soon had the feelings that he 
never had before; his thirteen-year-old dog had suddenly turned 
into a puppy, and as he lovingly licks his hands, Purdee hugs him 
in his arms, and as he releases him he bounds a few yards away 
to playfully come running back to again be fondly caressed; and 
no wonder, for he had just found his master. 



FOURTEENTH 

Purdee Gets His Wish. 



IT was October, the ideal month of the year to all lovers of field 
sports, when the changeable and varied hues of the foliage 

equal the colors of the rainbow. Bill was taking in this the 
grandest sight, the like of which can be found nowhere else in the 
wide world, as be rides over bill and through dale on a New Ens;- 
land country road, holding well in band a line stepping mare named 
Woodcock, after the gamest of all game birds. His desire to reach 
a well known cover bad been so great that Woodcock, the mare (not 
the bird), was all white with lather when he hauls up and hitches 
by the roadside some nine miles from his home. He soon attends to 
the mare, puts on his shooting jacket, and with Gar. a fine red 
Irish setter that he had broken, was soon in cover where they both 
bad often been before. 

It bad rained hard for several days, but this morning was 
bright, and one felt new life from riding in the glow of the morning 
sun. He had great hopes of bagging a goodly number of birds, but 
after beating up one side of the cover, across it and up a hill-side 
where he never before failed to get up a bird, was beginning to 
be a little discouraged ; and when he had hunted back down the 
cover to his team, the dog not getting as much as a smell, and this- 
in a cover where he had often bagged the "long bills/' it was, to- 
say the least, not encouraging. 

In this hunt he had an especial object. His son had unfortu- 
nately broken the stock of his gun, which had necessitated its re- 
stocking. This, with tne assistance of a friend, Bill had accom- 
plished ; hence his great desire to get up a bird so as to test it, and 

61 



62 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

his disappointment was greater in failing to find a bird in this the 
best cover he ever hunted. 

Although he was somewhat discouraged, still he had before him 
the greater part of the loveliest day that one ever hunted. On his 
coming out into the road, he pats his mare and tells her of his 
poor luck. He crosses the road and commences hunting up a brook 
to another well known cover. This he hunts with the same result. 

He turns and is now hunting down on the opposite side, when 
he comes to a branch in the brook and says to himself, "Did man 
ever have such luck ? Oh for just one shot, just to see how the new 
stock fits.' 7 And as he starts to hunt the branch he wishes that he 
might get up a pair of ruffed grouse, saying to himself, "If I should 
and kill them both, I will go right to my team and drive straight 
home again." 

This wish he made and starts to hunt the branch, when his 
dog halts on a point, but not for long, for into the air in opposite 
directions shoot with such speed a pair of ruffed grouse that the 
flight of a meteor would be slow in comparison. The bird to the 
right was a fair shot, but the one to the left was a rising bird, forty 
feet in the air, going through pines fifty yards away, before Bill was 
enabled to connect with him, which he did with the choke bore, and 
as Bill said, he had that joyful hilarious feeling that all have on 
successfully making this, the most difficult shot, a right and left at 
ruffed grouse when in cover. 

On his dog retrieving the birds, Bill was just boiling over, so 
to speak, at realizing his wish so quick. He was so profuse in his 
praises as he patted his dog that he even referred to his noble an- 
cestors who, the second generation back (that is, dog generation), 
came from the beautiful "Green Isle/' but he assured him there was 
nothing green about him. 

On his way back to his team, Bill thought it very singular. 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 63 

Did anyone ever before make such a wish and get it? Now that he 
had gotten his wish, what about the other part — driving home? 
Thus was he thinking when he got back to his team, and looking at 
his watch he learned that it was only ten o'clock. It would be a 
shame to give up hunting on such a lovely day. But as he unhitched 
Woodcock ho thought that if he remained any longer and hunted, 
something might happen to him, and as he drove towards home he 
became so thoroughly impressed that it would be best not to do so 
that he could not have been tempted to stop and do any more 
hunting. 

The result of the double shot had proved that the old gun 
came to his shoulder as though it were the old stock, which was 
most gratifying. 

His home was distant a fifty minute drive and Woodcock had 
done it often in that time, so he was soon there, and on his reining 
up at the stable, his wife came out greatly surprised and asked: 
"Why home so soon ? Has anything happened ?" 

"No," Bill replied. "But for fear something might is why I 
came back so soon." And then he tells her all about it, at which 
she laughs, saying, "Never hereafter say anything to me about old 
women's whims." 



Note. — It might not be inappropriate to add, that the old gun 
is still in the family, owned by the boy who broke it, highly prized 
and still serviceable. 



FIFTEENTH 



A Western Hunting Trip. 



CHAPTER I. 
PURDEE LOSES HIS DOG. 

LATE in the 8(Ts Pardee received these words from his son 
who was living in the state of Indiana, "Be sure and come 
early, before the chickens get wild." 

Now the reason of this was that Purdee had partially promised 
his son that he would come out and have a hunt for chickens before 
the season was over. 

In August, 1888, he was en route for the west by way of the 
Hoosac Tunnel. This being his first trip over this line he has al- 
ways delighted in making mention of it. 

While passing through the State of Massachusetts he sees the 
grandest panorama that he ever saw, and it is all nature's work, 
too, and he was so enthusiastic over what he had seen that for hours 
he sat discussing nature's wonders with his fellow passengers. 

After going to bed that night it seemed to him that he had not 
been asleep an hour when he was awakened by the porter and told 
that the cars were "running hot," and five minutes would be al- 
lowed for chano-ino- cars. 

Purdee had made the acquaintance of a fellow passenger who 
was en route for California ; with him were his wife and two chil- 
dren, one a babe. He saw that they were greatly excited. Now 

Purdee was not only an old rounder, on the road, but many times 

65 



66 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

in his life he had received an order that not only meant dress, but 
dress mighty quick ; so in a few moments he was dressed and stepped 
to the compartment occupied by his friends and asked if there was 
anv assistance which he could render, at the same time he told them 
to keep right to work. "Lots can be done in a minute/' he said. 
"Let me take the babe." This being done he tells the man to be 
sure and not leave anything behind, and as he moves toward the 
car door he turns and says, "Be quiet, lady, I will hold the train." 
When the words "All abcard" passed, Purdee was standing be- 
side the one who passed it, and his friends were near the car, and 
soon all were on board and the train pulled out of Buffalo, New 
York ; but the clog had not been thought of. 

No doubt the readers of this incident will wonder what all this 
has to do with shooting prairie chickens out in the state of In- 
diana. 

Well, it came pretty near having lots to do with any being 
killed over one of the finest dogs that came from the kennel of Dr. 
Jarvis of Claremont, N. H., for when Purdee left the dining car 
after breakfast, he went straight to the baggage car with 
some corn bread obtained from a waiter in his hands to feed his 
dog, he found none there neither could he learn anything about him. 

As he had the night before left money to be given to the man 
who had the morning run, he was greatly disappointed at not being 
able to find his dog or even learning anything of his whereabouts. 

Just at this moment the train stops and all get off to see one 
of the "Wonders of the World," Niagara Falls, and as Purdee 
stands gazing at this, the greatest sight that he ever saw, he remains 
mute, says not a word, until a fellow passenger remarked, "How 
is it that you say nothing on seeing for the first time one of the 
grandest sights in the world?" At this Purdee replies, "How in 
the name of heaven can a man enthuse on Niagara Falls when he 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 6j 

has just learned that he has lost his dog, and a fine red Irish setter at 
that ?" 

This sentiment attracted the attention of a gentleman standing 
near by, who extended his hand, at the same time saying, "You 
have my sympathy; my name is Dennis O'Brien, state attorney of 
New York." They soon enter the car, the train moves ahead and 
Purdee is requested to join O'Brien in the smoker, which he does, 
and is told that when he made mention of his loss and the way that 
lie expressed it just touched him right; and when O'Brien remarked, 
"I always like to hear my people spoken well of," it caused a great 
shout in the smoker. 

Much talk was made relative to the lost dog, and Purdee had 
the sympathy of all his fellow passengers and on leaving the train 
seven gentlemen bade him goodby and wished him success in re- 
covering his clog. Did he get him ? Well, watch out and see. 



CHAPTER II. 
DOG AND MASTER MET. 

When Purdee alighted from the train, he was met by his 
son; and almost the first words which he said were, "Where is 
Gar?" This was the name of the lost dog. When told about what 
had happened, his son felt very bad ; but when he told his son what 
he had decided on doing, it at once cheered him up. 

Now Purdee had a cousin who lived in the same city where 
his son was employed, and this cousin was a high official on the 
Big 4 R. R., so he proposed that the first thing in the morning they 
acquaint him with the facts and have him wire back over the line 
for the dog. So the first thing that Purdee utters on entering his 
cousin Albert's office was, "Lost my dog, Albert." 



?> 
)> 



68 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

After shaking hands and answering many questions, Purdee 
is asked, "Now what about the dog?" When the whole business 
had been explained, Albert calls for his operator, and soon after- 
wards messages were following one another back over the line to 
Buffalo. 

This was kept up for some time; and it was not until the third 
day that the dog was located, when this message was received, "Dog 
found, is on train No. 19, will be due in La Fayette at 11 A. M 

Now when Purdee received this bit of news, he just "lit out 
for the station; and when No. 19 pulled in, he was at the baggage 
car; and on the door being run back, he sees his dog; he hands 
the baggage master a five dollar bill, at the same time saying, "Let 
that dog out." 

"Not much ; you are the second man that has tried that game 
since I have had charge of him, only the other one was more lib- 
eral; he offered a ten." 

"Well, it's my dog." 

"The other fellow didn't claim ownership; he merely said, 
Tut the string and let him jump from the car on the opposite 
side/" At this Purdee laughs, and said, "You are the right man 
to have charge of a dog"; and then he spoke to his dog, calling 
him by name, and asked him if ho bad forgotten his master. The 
dog was now jumping on his chain in such a way to get to his mas- 
ter that the baggage master was convinced that the rightful owner 
was claiming the dog. 

When the dog was passed out to his master, Purdee remarked 
that it had taken some less than a million telegrams to recover the 
dog; and when the chain was taken from his collar and the words, 
"heel up," spoken by his master, the dog promptly obeying, there 
was further proof that master and dog had met. 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 69 

CHAPTER III. 
THE "PITCHFORK DIDN'T WORK. 

Soon after Purdee got his dog he took him to the office of 
the relative who had so kindly interested himself, and who at no 
time got discouraged^ but always, when meeting Purdee, said to 
him, "If he is alive I will get him." 

When the dog was taken into the office, the first thing that 
Albert said was, "Well, he is a handsome fellow; and no wonder 
you was anxious to recover him." 

"I will now take him to the man who did the telegraphing," 
Purdee said, "just to let him know that it was no "cur" that was 
being hunted for." 

The next day after getting the dog Purdee takes him out for 
a short hunt, and in a few days goes for chickens; this he was 
anxious to do, as his dog had never smelt one of these birds. He 
behaved well, and Purdee was pleased with the way that he 
worked ; and later he had several afternoon hunts with his son, al- 
ways returning with a few chickens. . 

But now they have deeided to take a hunt, some twenty-five 
miles out of town 2 and they start late in the afternoon; they drive 
part of the distance, stopping at a friend's that night, but they 
make an early start the next morning and arrive at "Round Grove," 
the place where they are to hunt, shortly after sunrise. 

They hitch up by the roadside, and start in to hunt for 
chickens. Neither had ever been in the locality before. After an 
hour's hunt, the dog finally "winds" game and soon "stands firm," 
and they kill their first chickens. Sometime afterwards they re- 
turn to their team with three birds. 

Thev are soon in another stubble field, and when two chickens 
are killed, they have to seek shelter from the rain in a cabin near 



jo Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

by, where the good woman gets them a nice dinner; and on their 
leaving, she is well rewarded. 

The sun having come out, they drive but a short distance, 
when they again stop. They had not hunted long (but two birds 
were knocked down), when down comes a man from a house near 
by, shouting at the top of his voice, and at the same time brandish- 
ing a pitchfork. 

He had now gotten so near that what he said could be under- 
stood, and it was this : "Just wait till I jabs this fork into ye's, 
and I be d — d if the like o' ye's will ever come on me land again." 
He had now approached quite near to Purclee, who bids him good- 
clay, at the same time asks, "What's the trouble?" As his actions 
indicated that he meant what he had said, the muzzle of Purdee's 
gun is quickly dropped and the man with the pitchfork stops, when 
Purdee remarks, "If I had thought it possible to get into such a 
scrape I would never have left my home way down in Maine." 

Ts it from there that ye come?" 

c Yes, sir ; and allow me to make you acquainted with my son, 
who lives in the city." At the same time Purdee introduces him- 
self and asks the man his name. ^When told that it was "Pat 
Dumidy," he remarked, "A French name?" 

"Not by a d — d sight ; it's a good old Irish name." 

"Put it right there, Mr. Dumidy," said Purdee, offering his 
hand. "I am always pleased to meet one of your kind; and look 
there (points to his dog), see the finest Eed Irish Setter that ever 
stepped on the sod of this state ;" saying this he passes Mr. Dumidy 
a cigar, and lights one himself; then continues saying, "Now tell 
us what all this means. I can always talk much better when smok- 
ing; Iioav is it with you, Mr. Dumidy?" Then he offers him a 
lighted match. They were now all smoking, and are told that one 
day last week some hunters came to his place; they did not kill 



«i 



cr 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents yi 

any prairie chickens, but came up to the house and shot his chick- 
ens in his yard. "I then made up my mind/' he said, "that when 
the next ones came here I would put a pitchfork into 'm, if I killed 
'm." 

"Well ; sir, I am awful glad that you didn't kill us/' Purdee 
said. 

"Kill you ! When you dropped that gun on to me, and when 
I was looking into the barrels, I changed my mind." 

"Well, I am mighty glad that you did; that no one is hurt, 
and that all are feeling better." 

"And so am I," Mr. Dumidy replied; "and now, gentlemen, 
you are at liberty to hunt anywhere on my land, and I have lots of 
it ; if you have got time, I would like for you to go up to the house ; 
if not, go to that lane yonder (indicating with his hand), go down 
that until you come to a field of oats — there are ninety acres in 
the field — and when bunching up the oats yesterday I saw lots of 
chickens." 

When Purdee thanked him, his son stepped up; passed his 
card and said, "When you come to town, Mr. Dumidy, if you don't 
look me up I shall feel offended." 

With a good-bye, they started for the field, and soon after 
entering it the dog finds birds; and such shooting no mortals ever 
had before, that is, for a short time. 

It was late in the day when they entered the field, and the 
first chickens killed were by double shots from each gun, when 
Purdee's boy said, "You killed both of yours, and I only one." 

"You got them both, my son," said Purdee, for at that mo- 
ment the last bird shot at came down; "my first shot was a clean 



miss." 



"But, father, you killed two birds, for I saw them come down." 
Yes, my boy, but I killed them both with the second barrel; 



"xcoj my uuy, uui j. ivmcu inrjii uutn vvnn uno D < 



although they were ten yards apart, they were in line. 



72 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

After the four birds had been retrieved, they start in on a 
lively hunt, and just as the sun was setting they came out of the 
field with twenty-one chickens. 

They hurried to their team, and when headed home they were 
highly pleased with the result of the day's hunt. 

With a noted roadster the twenty-five miles were soon covered, 
and they were again back in town. 

Next to shooting game birds, with Purdee, was the presenting 
of some friend with a bunch of them, which he often did. 

So some days after these birds had been sent to his friends, 
and while sitting in the office of his cousin, where a number of his 
kind had gathered, Albert (who, by the way, was a jovial fellow, 
and had a heart in him in proportion to his weight, winch was two 
hundred and fifty pounds) says, "Bill, what about this narrow 
escape from a horrible death while on one of your hunting trips a 
short time since?" 

"Why, vou haven't learned of that, have you? I didn't want 
that little affair to become known, at least not until after I had 
gotten out of town. You see, a modest fellow like myself, don't 
want to become lionized to such an extent that any "kid" who 
chances to meet him on the street would point him out as the man 
who wasn't willing to be pitched with a fork into the next world." 

At this the boys all laughed, and Albert insisted on Bill tell- 
ing the whole facts, which he finally did : and on his reciting the 
part where Mr. Dumidy is taken for a Frenchman, it was too much 
for the crowd, and such a shout one never heard before. 

"Now, boys," Albert says, k 'I will adjourn this meeting sub- 
ject to the call of Bill Purdee, the champion chicken shooter and 
pacifier of enraged Frenchmen with Irish names." 



SIXTEENTH 



Bill's Southern Hunting Trip # 



CHAPTER I. 
THE RUN TO BALTIMORE. 

AT the close of the hunting season of '91, Purdee was about 
to realize the dream of his life; for he was soon to start for 
the ''Louisiana Low Lands/' where he expected to get in 
touch with the feathered tribe that there do congregate in millions ; 
that is, he had often read that such was the case. 

On the second of December he leaves his native town, as the 

guest of his friend Captain H of the steamship C. M., and as 

the ship steams down the river, Bill is reminded of days long ago; 
and as she passes the "Old Stone Beacon" he thinks of the order 
given and which he obeyed when a lad on board of an old time 
packet ship. It was just as she was passing this same beacon that 
these words were passed, "Lay aloft, loose the main topsail." How 
nimble he was then as into the rigging he sprang, up the ratlines ran 
and out on the yard arm, cast loose the ganet, when down drops the 
sail and down from aloft Bill and the others come. 

As the noble ship with topsails set glides on and through the 
"narrows," past where sailors' lasses stand, and with handkerchiefs 
are waving good-bye, these were the thoughts that Bill had as the 
ship steams on and soon enters the spacious harbor, and later out 
onto the broad Atlantic and past the Isles of Shoals, and at this 
point Bill is again reminded of his earlv davs and of the first time 

he ever saw the beacon light at the Shoals. It was many years ago, 

73 



74 Hunting and Shooting Iucidents 

and when coming from a foreign land in the good old sailing ship 
E bound for the port of Boston ; and for two weeks after sight- 
ing land this good old ship rode the tempestuous seas, struggling for 
supremacy and her destined port — Boston. During this time the 
light was often seen by Bill and his shipmates. 

As he stands gazing at objects soon to pass from view, he thinks 
of the time when they were first seen by him. After three days he 
arrives in Baltimore, where he is to be joined by his old hunting 
chum. 

He had taken with him his dogs, and a finer pair of setters 
never took a sea voyage; certainly none ever knew more, that is in 

the mind of Captain H . Though not exactly a hunter, he was 

a great lover of dogs; and on going to dinner, which was the first 
meal served after leaving port, Purdee remarked, "I will put the 
dogs forward." 

"Xo," Captain H said, 'iet them remain with us," and on 

entering the mess room they were ordered by their master to take 
their positions one on each side of the Captain, who sat at the head 
of the table; and as they remained without any further orders until 
the people were leaving the table, they were then told by Bill that 
they were good boys, and "now we will go ;" at this they start, just as 
the Captain leaves the table, he saying kind words and patting each 
on the head, little dreaming what effect the word "2:0" that Purdee 
had uttered had to do with their moving. 

On entering the mess room for tea that night Bill was highly 
elated, not so much over the funny story that the Captain was telling 
(though that was very good) and had not finished until some little 
time after being seated, thus giving him the opportunity of making 
certain signs which the dogs understood and the Captain did not 
notice, as with the way the dogs behaved. When the story was fin- 
ished, the Captain looked around, noticed the position which the 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 75 

dogs had taken, and for a few moments said nothing, but when he 
did it meant lots ; and what he said was this : "Purdee, how much be- 
hind the human family, in manners, is the clog? Certainly those 
two are not far behind." And he gently pats each of them on the 
head. 

During the remainder of this short sea trip the dogs, whenever 
entering the mess room at meal times, went to the head of the table 
and sat beside the Captain which was very enjoyable to him. 

The next day after arriving in Baltimore, Bill's chum joined 
him. The following day he bids good bye to his friends and with 
dogs and traps he leaves the ship ; but before doing so, is requested 
by the Captain to leave one of those animals, and he didn't care 
which one it was. 

"Can't do it Captain," said Bill; "but ask me for anything else 
that I have, and it is yours." 



CHAPTEK II. 
STILL SOUTHWARD THEY GO. 

On Bill's leaving the ship, his chum, Lew Sears, bad to be 
told all about the trip and how the dogs behaved on board ship, this 
being their first voyage on the "briny deep," as Lew put it ; so Bill 
had to tell him how the dogs went into the mess room at meal times 
and the positions which they took at the table. When Bill finished, 
Lew remarked, "Old Captain ain't up to the snuff on dogs." 

By night they had gotten all their outfit together and sent it to 
the station. They were to leave the city at 10 P. M., so they were 
there in time to check their baggage and make suitable arrangements 
to transport the dogs. This little business being completed, Bill re- 
marked, "The way things look tonight, Lew, we are to realize our 



long cherished wish 



?? 



■j 6 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

"Well Bill, it does look pretty much that way," says Lew, and 
long before the words "All aboard" were passed, they were there, 
and when the train pulled out it contained two mighty good fel- 
lows, this I can vouch for. 

The ride, although a long one, proved very interesting, and at 
all the stops where the words "ten minutes for lunch" were passed, 
Purdee visits the baggage car to feed his dogs, also to "tip" the 
baggage master for caring for them. Nothing out of the ordinary 
happened while on this trip and in due time they arrived in New 
Orleans. 



CHAPTER III. 
LEW GETS SICK. 



"While I care for the dogs. Lew." said Bill, "you hunt for a 
place for us to stop tonight." 

In a short time Lew returned with a drayman, and with dogs 
and traps they were soon registered in the Johns Hotel, and when 
asked by the landlord if they were to remain any length of time, 
Purdee answered, "Only for the night." 

"If you were to remain for a week," said the landlord, "I could 
give vou better rates." 

When this was said, little did either dream that where they 
were there they would remain for some time. During the night 
Lew complained of not feeling well, and in the morning he was in a 
had condition. Purdee fixes him up something hot and after drink- 
ing it he thinks he feels better, but he has no desire to eat. So Bill 
goes to breakfast alone and is feeling just a little blue. After 
breakfast he starts out, but he soon returns with some medicine; 
he has Lew take a fever powder, and continues this throughout the 
•day and for a number of days. 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 77 

Lew is now a sick man, but he will not have a doctor, always 
saying, "I will be better in the morning." One day Purdee says to 
him, "You got this 'grippe' fever cold, or whatever it is, by that 

d n drunken brute opening the car window when the train 

pulled out of Mobile and keeping it open. I should thought he 
would have taken a cold, hanging his head out so long." 

"Taken cold !" Lew said. "With the rum in him that he had? 
He stood no more show of catching cold than a wooden Indian." 

"Lew, you are better," said Bill. 

"Well, Bill, I believe tonight that 1 am feeling some better, but 
not much," says Lew. "Why that last dose that you gave me has 
had no more effect on me than so much water; ordinarily, such a 
dose would have caused me to try to rival 'Dick Dead Eye,' and 
again Lew is told that he is surely better, and that night he is not so 
restless." 

In the morning Bill prevailed on Lew to go to breakfast with 
him and on coming out of the dining room Bill remarked, "If vou 
ain't any better, Lew, it causes me to feel a heap happier with you 
at the table." 

"If that is so, I will not keep away any more," said Lew. 

The next day Bill takes Lew to the French market where he 
sees all kinds of game; in doing this he thought the sight of game 
birds which Lew had killed so many of, would in a measure cheer 
him up, or in other words, act as a tonic. And so it did, for he at 
once said, after looking at several kinds of ducks, snipe and plovers, 
"Let's get to the country where such birds dwell." Then Bill tells 
him that while out exercising the dogs he had strolled into the mar- 
ket and made the acquaintance of Paul St. Phillip, who is the larg- 
est dealer in game in the market, and he had told him what he con- 
sidered to be the finest location for hunting in the state, which was 
the town of Jennings, located 170 miles out, on the Southern 
Pacific E. E. 



78 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

On their return to the hotel Lew was a little shaky, but that 
night while sitting in their room he said he thought that it would 
be best to leave the city. So they decided to start in the morning, 
and after having remained there for twelve days, they are again on 
the road. 

At four P. M. they arrived at Jennings. The long ride has 
proved most too much for Lew, but he is soon made comfortable in 
a hotel near the station where Bill had secured a room. 

BILL HAS HIS FIRST HUNT, AND LEW STARTS NORTH. 

The next morning Purdee starts out for a hunt, just to prove 
to Lew that they had found the "hunter's paradise." He did not 
wish to remain long away from his chum, so he returned for din- 
ner, and with him came nineteen snipe. 

While he was away he thought lots about his chnm, and feared 
that he would never shoot his gun while in Jennings. The sight 
of the birds caused him to brighten up and as Bill tells how plen- 
tiful the birds were, Lew's eyes grow bright, but are soon dim, and 
he goes to his room where Bill soon joins him, when he remarks, 
"I fear that I have done my last hunting." 

"Nonsense, Lew," said Bill ; "you are tired, and after a few 
days' rest you will feel like yourself again, and then goodby 'long- 
bills.' " It was now the 2 2d of December. 

Christmas comes and there is no improvement in Lew. It is 
now a very serious thins:, made so by the shortness of funds. Bill 
had some time since sent for funds and at everv mail he looked for 
a remittance. All the funds which they had would only be suffi- 
cient to take one of them north, but Bill feared to have his chum 
take this trip alone, and begged of him to wait longer but he had now 
o-otten into such a condition both in mind and bodv that he would 
wait no longer. On New Year's night he leaves for the north and 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 79 

a sad parting it was for these two who had lived together in camp 
for many months, and for years had been hunting companions, and 
never a word in anger bad either uttered against the other. But 
part they must, and so they did, but it was only because their funds 
were low. 



CHAPTER IV. 
PURDEE HAS A NEW PARTNER. 

The next morning the landlord calls Purdee from his room, 
saying that a gentleman wishes to see him. 

On Purdee coming into the office, he is accosted with the 
words, "How do sir; pard got sick and left you; don't you want 
another ?" 

"Take a seat, sir, and we will talk the matter over; my name 
is Purdee." 

"So I have heard ; mine's Pinney." 

"Not much alike except the T.' Where do you hail from Mr. 
Pinney?" 

"I am a Michigander." 

"Been here long?" 

"Several vears." 

"What kind of a place is it?" 

"Kinder sickish; leastwise it has been so with me and mine 
this season; wife and three children been down with the fever." 

"Am sorry to learn that, Mr. Pinney." 

"Thank you, sir; it's kinder pleasant to have sympathy, and 
it don't cost anything for one to give it ; but it won't feed the chil- 
dren, and that is what I am here to see you about." 

"Well, Mr. Pinney, I like frankness in anyone ; now what do 
you propose we should do?" 



80 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

"You are acquainted in New Orleans and would know how to 

get game to market without them commission fellows taking the 
lion's share." 

"Well, if I had anything to sell, I don't think I would allow 
anyone to rob me." 

"'That's what I want, and I think we can make a hitch ; am 
acquainted with all the hunting grounds about here, but I haven't 
hunted much this season. I was working over in Beaumont during 
the summer; wife got sick, then one of the boys, then a girl and 
then another boy, and I had to give up and come home; and soon 
I got the fever; but now we are better, but no richer." 

"Then as I understand it. you would like for me to take this 
matter up in a business manner?" 

"Exactly." 

"Very well; suppose we take a Little tramp this afternoon. 

"All right." 

"How arc you fixed Tor ammunition. Mr. Pinney?" 

"Well, sir, 1 am short; but 1 hoar that you brought a keg of 
powder and bags of shot and everything else.** 

•'What bore is your gun?" 
Ten, and a powerful shooter." 
"Have you brass shells?" 



/•• 



yy 






"Yes, lots of them:* 
Well, 1 will let you have some ammunition." 



a 



So Bill gets it, and when giving it to Pinney says, "I am going 
to the Post Office; will it be out of your way to go there with me?" 

"No, I pass there on my way to my house." 

At this they leave the hotel, and on the way Bill is told much 
about the hunting grounds and the different kinds of game to be 
found about the place. On reaching the office, Bill told his new 
partner that as soon as he had dinner he would like to start out. 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 81 

"All right, I will be there." 

Bill found at the office what he had been expecting for several 
days, and had he received it the day before he would never had 
Pinney for a partner. 

CHAPTER V. 
BILL'S FIRST HUNT WITH PINNEY. 

Purdee was hardly ready when he received word that he was 
wanted; and as he knew who it was that sent the message he passed 
out of the house all prepared for hunting, and as he stepped up to 
the one who was now to be his hunting companion he remarked, "I 
see you are on hand. Mr. Pinney." 

"Well, I always try to keep my appointments." 

"An excellent idea ; and I will sav this to von Mr. Pinney, that 
he who keeps his appointments never has to offer any excuses. I 
see that you have a nice little 'hitch-up.' ' 

"Well, sir, he is small, but powerfully strong; he can take us 
anywhere we wish to go and haul us back again, can't you Billy?' 
This he said to his pony. 

By this time Purdee had gotten into the little "go-cart."* as 
the other part of the "hitch-up" was called, and on Pinney speaking 
to his pony, that powerful little animal, Billy, starts jogging out of 
town, with Sport, Purdee's youngest dog, running between the 
wheels. They were that busy talking that time and distance had 
passed so quickly that they were nearing the first cover when Pin- 
ney hauled up, looked back and said, "We have left the dog." At 
this Purdee spoke his name and Sport came out from under the 
"gig," to the great wonderment of Pinney, who remarked, "The like 
of that I have never seen before. We will hitch the pony to that 
old dead tree ; and in that scrub growth we'll find quail." 



82 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

Guns mounted, and they were soon there, and so was Sporty, 
as solid as a rock on a covey of quail. Both had taken positions, 
when the dog was ordered to flush the birds, which he did ; and in 
an instant there were dead quail, live ones and feathers in the air; 
the old ten bore proving bad for the quail ; one might have thought 
that a dynamite cartridge had been exploded amongst the birds. 
Now, to the delight of his partner, Purdee takes his dog and works 
up the remainder of the birds, getting many fine shots ; at last he 
remarks, "We will leave the rest for seed." 

"Now for snipe and possibly a duck," says Pinney. As the 
ground was most too dry, the snipe they did not find, save two ; just 
enough for Pinney to see what Sport could do. 

On returning from this, their first hunt, they brought back 
seventeen quail, two snipe, one mallard duck, one prairie hen, one 
rabbit and one squirrel. This I take from Paul St. Phillip's bill. 



CHAPTEE VI. 
THEY GOT THIS TIME WHAT THEY WENT FOR. 

Pinney was on hand the next morning, and as they drove to 
the hunting grounds he had much to say about the dogs, as he was 
now caring for them at his home. 

"We didn't find them snipe yesterday, but we are bound to this 
morning." This was said just as he pulled "Billy the Goat," as he 
called his pony, up along side of the fence. "That pony got the 
name of 'Billy the Goat' from my oldest boy who, on the day that I 
drove him home, and asked him how he liked Billy, my new horse, 
said, 'Why par ! you don't call it a hos, do you? It ain't bigger then 
a goat.' So ever since then he's been called 'Billy the Goat. 5 



? ?? 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 83 

They were soon in the rice fields and the snipe were in the air. 
They were so plentiful that Purdee calls his dog to heel, and there 
he remains and is not allowed to hunt only for a dead bird when it 
cannot be found without the dog, which is often the case when a 
successful double shot is made, for the fields are so much alike that 
it is impossible to find a bird if you once take your eyes off from it. 
The birds are walked up, and in great numbers, so that when they 
came out of the fields they had fifty-four snipe. On the way back, 
they killed a pair of mallard ducks, a teal duck and two doves, 
these last being very numerous around the stacks of straw. This 
count per second bill from P. St. Phillip. Now I don't intend to 
enumerate the kinds or number of birds killed at every hunt, but 
will at different times mention any extra shooting. 

On returning from this, their second hunt, Purdee was feeling 
highly elated; his partner he liked, and he was now becoming ac- 
quainted with the grounds. 

Saturday night had come and no returns as yet had been re- 
ceived from game shipments, so he says to his partner, "Would a 
few dollars be acceptable tonight, it being Saturday ?" 

Why, you ain't got nothing yet for the birds, have you ?" 
No, but it matters not ; if a few dollars will be of service, you 
can have them." Then he passes him a few bills and Pinney says, 
"Whv, Mr. Purdee, I never had this done to me before." 

"What done to you?" 

"A dollar given to me before I earned it." 



a- 



CHAPTER VII. 

A DAY WITH THE DUCKS. 

It was quite a drive to the pond which lay betwen two rice 
fields where Pinney intended hunting. "The wind is right and the 



84 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

ducks will be moving. You see," he said, "they can't remain 
still very long when the wind blows like it does today, and from the 
south." 

Long before arriving at the pond, many ducks were seen on the 
wing. After putting the pony between two stacks of straw, where 
he would be out of the wind, and with a bundle of dry straw to be 
used as a seat in the high grass, it was not long before they were in 
position. Shortly a pair of Mallards called on Pinney and a neater 
shot one never made, so Purdee says who saw it all. As his partner 
rose to shoot, the birds began to climb, but soon came tumbling down 
and Sport retrieves his first duck. 

It's now an empty gun, and a dead duck, over and over again, 
and to Purdee it was royal sport. 

There was now a lull and Pinney hails, saying, "The birds will 
ilv no more until sunset." So they brought their birds together, 
and the bunch consisted of eighteen mallard ducks, four gray ducks 
and one teal duck, and Sport had proved a fine retriever. On the 
way back, fourteen doves, five quail and two snipe were bagged. 
This count also verified by hill from Paul St. Phillip. 

While on the way home, Purdee had much to say relative to 
woodcock, but as Pinney had never killed one. neither had he ever 
been with anvone who had, it was entirely new to him to have Pur- 
dee enthuse on this particular kind of hunting: and when he said, 
I came all the way from Maine to hunt these birds," he just said 
Whoa," and stopped the pony, saying. "I'd never thought it; is 
Sport as good on woodcock as he is on quail? If he is, he's a 
dandy." 

"Get up, Billy, we shan't get home now until near dark," and 
as he says this he turns to see how near it is to sunset. "It will 
soon be out of sight ; and I am hi owed if that dog ain't now." At 
this the pony was again stopped and Purdee was greatly surprised 






Hunting and Shooting Incidents 85 

at not seeing Sport. "Nothing like this ever happened before/' he 
said. "Hope he hasn't become sick and laid down." 

'"Laid down !" Pinney now shouts. "Does that picture look much 
like lying down?" at the same time pointing toward the sun, which 
was reflecting on the dog who was on a slight rise in the prairie a 
mile or more back. He was pointing a prairie chicken, and as they 
sat in the little gig watching the dog, Pinney remarked, "It will be 
many a dav before the rays of the setting sun will shine on a love- 
lier object. What shall we do. drive back ?" 

"No, Pinney, it would be too dark to shoot when we got there; 
the sun is already out of sight; wo will drive ahead. When we 
have passed from the dog's view no doubt be will flush the bird and 
then it will not be long before he will overtake us, and it'll be before 
we reach the town, too." 

It was dark long before they reached there, but when they did, 
the first toAvn light shone on what Pinney had called a picture run- 
ning between the wheels. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
THE FIPST WOODCOCK. 

On starting out the next day, Purdee remarked, "If there is 
a woodcock in the state, I am bound to find him before I return. 
I see you have both dogs, and when we get them under the grape- 
vines that must grow along the banks of that bayou, away to the 
left of the pond which we were hunting at yesterday, I shall be 
surprised if they don't nose up a woodcock. But as we have taken 
an early start we can spend some time at the pond." 

On arriving there a few ducks were seen, and shortly after 
being settled in their positions, Pinney kills a duck, and when old 



86 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

Gar retrieves it for him he is greatly pleased, but no more so than 
when a pair are knocked down by Purdee and Gar does not move 
from his side. 

When seven mallards, two grays and a pair of teal are killed, 
Purdee shouts, "Time's up ; we came for woodcock." 

On approaching the straw stacks they saw some doves, and in 
a short time they bag fourteen. 

A short drive and they are where Purdee believes woodcock 
should be. As Pinney had been caring for the dogs at his home, 
old Gar was willing to hunt with him ; but they had not hunted long 
before Pinney hailed, saying, "Gar's pointing." 

"You just cluck, and he will put the bird m the air," says Pur- 
dee. This he did, and Pinney kills his first woodcock; but it took 
the second shot to do the business. He then calls out, "Don't they 
just get, when they leave the ground ?" 

It's now bang, bang, from Purdee's gun; when Pinney says, 
"There's two that you didn't let get far." 

When the hunt ended Purdee had learned something new; he 
who had hunted this bird for many years, and had made a wonder- 
ful record, did, on that day, learn that if the bird was not killed 
when flushed, he was not likely to be killed that day ; for if missed 
while getting up through the trees, it would go on and pass away 
out of sight. And Purdee has said, that he never knew that he 
had killed a bird on a clay that he had missed it at the first jump, 
for he was never able to mark one down, they flew so far. In his 
old haunts he had been known to get a bird up continuously, even 
to the fourth or fifth time until bagged. He was not only pleased 
with the number of birds killed, but with the way Sport, his young 
dog, had behaved. 

On getting back to the gig, they were able to put twenty wood- 
cock into the sack with the ducks. When this was being done, 




"PINNEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WOODCOCK?" 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 87 

Pinney remarked, "If any one thinks that you ain't 'up to the 
snuff' in this business, they had best go out walking with you." 

They had driven but a short distance, when they stop, get out 
and hunt a low place, in a rice field, and soon return with eight 
snipe. 

As they again start, and this time towards home, Pinney says,. 
''It's but one more hunt today." 

And as they jog along, he starts in on woodcock, and many 
are the questions that Purdee is asked, about their habits, and 
where he has killed them; all of which was most interesting to him. 

They had not finished talking about this bird when Pinney 
says, "Here we arc, and there's where the quail are," indicating the 
place with his hand. Before it was reached, "Just to keep their 
hand in," as Pinney said, they knocked down six field larks. 

There was now a grand sight for both ; as they saw the young 
dog back the old one, who had a covey of quail. When the birds 
were flushed, some were killed and some were not, but of the latter 
a number were afterwards picked up; and they came out bringing 
eleven quail with them, and the sun still an hour high; when Pin- 
ney remarks, "This finishes up for today ; and we will not be far 
out of town when the sun sets." And as they drive back home he 
is asked by Purdee, what he thinks of woodcock. 



CHAPTER IX. 
SECOND HUNT FOR WOODCOCK. 
On Pinney's driving up and taking Purdee in, he remarks, "I 
take it that this is about the right kind of a day for hunting 
woodcock." 

"Yes," Bill replies. ''Nothing like a still day for hunting 
these birds." 



88 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 



«i 



'Well, I went to sleep last night thinking about them, and 
the first thing I thought of when waking this morning, was wood- 
cock." 

"Well, Pinney," said Bill, "as you have had them in your 
mind, you will, before night, have lots of them in your pockets, or 
I am no prophet." 

They were now getting well out on the prairie, when Pinney 
asked, "Where shall it be today?" 

"Go to the river," said Purdee, "and we will hunt along down 
to where we finished hunting yesterday; to follow the bend in the 
river will give us lots of ground to hunt Over; and when we get 
through, we can walk across the prairie to the team, which will be 
less than a mile." 

They soon drew up at the place mentioned, and were not long 
in getting to business, and it was business. Purdee was at his best, 
and Pinney was a mighty close second, he having learned in his 
sleep how the "trick" was done. And from start to finish it was a 
grand hunt, the like of which I don't believe that two hunters ever 
had before. 

When it is considered by so many that these birds are the 
gamiest of all, one can but be pardoned for envying these two hun- 
ters of that day's royal sport. The birds were killed over Sport, 
the young dog, and when counted numbered fifty-three woodcock, 
and what pleasure it must have been to Bill to so often see his 
young clog point the birds so true, stand so staunch, and retrieve 
the dead birds so gently that hardly a feather was ruffled when he 
took them from his mouth. 

The old dog, having passed twelve years, was not able to stand 
a two days' hunt, so he was left at home. 

While eating their lunch, Pinney declared that it was the most 
infatuating hunt that he had ever had. 




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Huintng and Shooting Incidents 89 

They still had several hours of daylight, and were soon rat- 
tling along the road at a fearful gait, (that is, for Billy to make,) 
so the next plaee was soon reached, and a short hunt was had, and 
six snipe and two doves were bagged. 

They were no sooner on the road again than a mallard drake 
was seen to settle into a slough hole, when Pinney stops the pony 
and on getting out says, "He's my meat." Purdew sets in the gig 
and watches the operation; with scarcely anything to screen him, 
Pinney had to do some mighty good sneaking. The duck was soon 
in the air. and soon a puff of smoke was seen, when down came the 
duck, and back came Pinney bringing it. As they drove along he 
said it was just an even chance, as it was an awful long shot. 

Again they stop and get out to make their last hunt for this 
day, as it is now getting late, and will soon be dark. This place 
they had hunted before, and they knew that quail were there ; and 
so did Sport, for he soon found them; and in a very short time 
seven were shot, which made sixtv-nine birds in all; and with this 
string of game they drove *back to town. 

PURDEE HEARS FROM LEW. 

It was a great relief to Purdee when he received word from 
home that Lew had arrived back. The delay in not hearing was 
caused by his being so sick on reaching New York that he remained 
there with friends for two weeks, and had no heart to write, and 
when starting for home was still a sick man. 

On his arriving home he was in very bad condition, and re- 
mained so for a long time, his relatives believing all the while that 
he would soon pass away. 

But when Spring came a very great change came over Lew and 
he had no sooner taken a few sun baths than it was noticed by all 
that he was feeling much better; and before May had passed his 



9<D Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

kindred and numerous friends were confident that Lew's time had 
not come. And oh how pleased Bill was, and what pleasure it gave 
Lew to have him call, as he often did, and chat of days that they 
had spent together and live, as it were, their past lives over again. 



CHAPTER X. 
PURDEE DINES AT PINKEY'S HOUSE. 

On getting back from a Saturday's hunt, and just as Purdee 
was about to enter the hotel, Pinney calls to him saying, "Why can't 
you take dinner with us tomorrow ? My wife and all the children 
have often said they would like to have you come." 

"All right, I'll do so," says Bill. 

Purdee had often been at Pinney's house, but this day all were 
anxious for his arrival and when he did arrive he received a cordial 
welcome. 

Without doubt there has often been served a more sumptuous 
meal; but nobody ever enjoyed eating one more than Purdee did 
this; and for why? Simply because it wasn't one of those spiced 
meals, that one has to be told what it is ; for when he ate fried rab- 
bit he knew it was rabbit ; the same with the squirrel stew; and when 
the big roasted mallards were set on the table he recognized them, 
and the same with the little teal ducks that the woman had roasted 
so brown, and when being eaten they were by Purdee pronounced 
"extra fine." 

When the dinner had been eaten he was most profuse in his 
praises, and as all sat back from the table for a chat, the children 
began by saying, "Ain't you going to give us 'Old Gar ?' We wish 
you would, Mr. Purdee ; he knows us all, and we want him so much." 

"Well, I will see about that later," said Purdee. "I'll have 
plenty of time to think it over as I am not to leave for many weeks, 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 91 

and your father and myself have a mortgage on lots of game which 
we shall have to foreclose before I can decide about the dog; and 
now I must go and see the dogs." 

Some time was devoted to the dogs, for Purdee loved them as all 
good ones should be loved. So Avith the time spent with the dogs 
and chatting with the family the afternoon soon passed and Purdee 
returned to the hotel ; but it was understood before leaving that in 
the morning they should take an early start. 



CHAPTER XL 
"BILLY THE GOAT" HAS A FIT. 

They leave the pony hitched in the woods a short distance from 
the river, and some eight miles from town. As they leave the team 
Pinney takes a grain sack out of the gig. 

"What are you taking that for ?" Purdee asks. 

"We are going to get something to put in it," Pinney says. 

"What's the matter with the game pockets in our coats ?" 

"Ain't big enough to hold what birds we are going to shoot 
today/"' at this Purdee laughs. 

They were soon in positions at a bend in the river, where the 
ducks were passing, so for some time they had fine shooting with 
good results; and when the birds ceased to fly they had eighteen 
ducks to put into the sack that Pinney had taken when leaving the 
team, and it proved a thoughtful move on his part, as they were not 
to return to their team until late; and when eating their lunch 
Pinney remarked, "Them ducks in that sack would have been pretty 
heavy ones if we had them in our pockets while hunting woodcock 
and quail." 

"You are right, Pinney, nothing ever grows lighter by carrying 
it; at least, the Irishman's pig didn't." 



9 2 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

"How was that ?" Pinney asked. 

"You see/' said Bill, "he had lugged it a long distance and when 
he reached the pen his wife came out, and as he put it in the pen he 
remarked, 'Now that lie is in the pen, Bridget, if he will grow as fast 
as he has while being brought to it, we shall d n soon have a 



hog 



y yy 



At this Pinney roars with laughter, having never heard it be- 
fore. "I'll tell it to my wife when I get home tonight." 

They now start for woodcock, and as Sport is the only dog 
which they have with them on this day, they both hunt over one 
dog. At this place they find but few woodcock and only kill ten. 

They now hunt a rice field and bag some snipe and in the brush 
they kill some quail and numerous other small game birds until the 
number which they laid out on the ground exceeded ninety for that 
day, and with this number they returned, to find Billy on his back 
and the gig upside down. 

Putting the sack on the ground and their guns on the sack, they 
make a grand rush to get Billy off his back. How long he had been 
there they could not tell; he was quiet, and remained so until nearly 
unharnessed, when he commenced kicking, and such kicking one 
never saw before, that is for a goat. 

When he was cleared from the gig, Pinney, who had him by 
the head, tried several times to get him on to his feet, and finally 
he succeded; and in a moment he was off like the wind, rushing 
through the trees with Pinney hanging to his neck. The mad rush 
was not long, and Pinney soon comes leading him back, and when 
quieted down he was hitched up again and as they drive back to town 
they have much to talk about, how they found Billv in a fit lying on 
the ground. 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 93 

CHAPTER XII. 

t 

PURDEE'S PARTNER CALLED OUT OF TOWN. 

Pinney, at an early hour, sent word that he would be unable to 
go hunting, as he had to go away on business. So Purdee takes a 
day by himself. He does not make an early start, as he intends 
taking a short tramp out on the prairie. 

Soon after leaving Pinnev's house, where he goes to get his 
young dog, he is in the rice fields which surround the town, and a 
few snipe are soon found. 

On leaving the rice fields, he starts out on the prairie where he 
shot the first chicken after arriving at Jennings. The clog is now 
told by a wave of his masters hand to range over the prairie, which 
lie does in grand style, and after a bit lie scents the birds ; and 
what a grand sight it is to the true lover of the dog, when he sees 
him stop so sudden on "winding" game, settles a little forward, and 
then with cat like step and tail so straight, he moves ahead, though 
the game is far away. One can but wonder on nature's gifts. 

When the dog stopped, Purdee stepped ahead and unshed the 
birds, which do not lay in January as they do in October. The first 
bird up was soon down ; the other bird an instant later flushed sev- 
eral yards a head, proved most too long a shot for the open barrel ; 
the first bird was killed with the choked bore. Purdee knew he had 
hit the bird, so he kept his eyes on him, and after a while he sees him 
fall, and that's not all he sees, for a big hawk has seen him, too, 
and away he sails for the chicken which he is successful in getting, 
'and is soon on the wing with it. Bill had been on the run since the 
bird fell, and good time he made, for when the hawk rose from 
the ground with the chicken in his talons, Purdee fires and down 
comes the chicken and away sails Mr. Hawk. 

When Purdee was asked if he thought he hit the hawk he re- 



94 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

plied, "Why man ! it was like shooting at the moon ;" but later said, 
''It's barely possible that the shot might have reached him, as they 
were number six, well loaded, and from the choked barrel. The 
report of the gun possibly had something to do with his dropping 
it. He had years before done the same thing on a hawk which had 
picked up a woodcock that had dropped in an open field." 

The chicken recovered, it was, "Now Sporty, my dandy, we 
have got to go and find the other one." Finding the other one was 
no easy job; not a tree nor a bush to guide him as he stands some 
miles out on the almost boundless plain. "Which way did I come 
when I made that wild run ?" is what he would like to know ; so he 
says to himself, "A circle, or a part of one I must make." He had 
some idea of the distance that he had run and the direction from 
which he had come. 

So after going from the spot where the hawk had dropped the 
bird, to what he thought the proper distance, he then had his dog 
io work, first to the right and then to the left; all the time working 
as near as he could judge in a circle ; and for a while he kept at it. 
But just as he was about to give it up and saying to himself, "Lost 
one and found one, the game is still even. What is that that Sporty 
has struck, scent?'* And he is now standing so staunch, so firm, 
it would seem impossible to move him. He is far out of shooting 
distance, so Purdee hastily moves toward him, as he had already 
learned that the birds were not laying well to the dog; but this 
one did, for it was dead. The lost had been found. 

It was on this prairie that Purdee had stood in perfect won- 
derment, when for the first time he saw a streak of black smoke; 
and out of this came a black speck, which in time turned into the 
smallest kind of a toy train of cars ; this he had watched as it grew 
in size, until a full sized train of cars passed by, some miles away, 
on the S. P. R. R. And now he is seeing the same sight again and 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 95 

he thinks of the pleasure that he lias had since that day and says to 
himself, "Did man ever have such shooting?" He had also found 
that in Sport, his young dog, less than two years old, he had a 
"dandy." 

On this day he thinks of the dear ones so far away; wife and' 
children he knew were well, and as he had left them so comfortably 
fixed, why need he worry? This trip was to be the event of his 
life, and a remarkable one, too. 

These were the thoughts that were passing through his mind 
as he plods along over the rice field, when his attention was drawn 
to some men ploughing a long distance ahead and coming towards 
him on his right; the men seemed to be watching him. They now 
stop their team and stand gazing at something back of Purdee, so> 
he turns around and finds that Sport is not at his heels; he looks 
in the direction which the ploughmen are looking and sees his dog 
nearly half a mile back, pointing, so he returns; and Purdee, to 
this day will swear that his dog not only wagged his tail when he got 
back to him, but smiled as well. When the bird jumped from the 
ground and was by Purdee knocked down, the men who were 
ploughing set up a shout and clapped their hands. 

A few more shots and he starts for home, where at sunset he 
arrived and showed to the guests at the house a fine bunch of snipe, 
and as he was being praised by them he laid four prairie chickens 
beside the snipe. 

That night while sitting in the office, smoking his old corncob 
pipe, Bill tells how the hawk didn't succeed. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

THE CLOSE OF THE HUNTING TRIP. 

It was now getting well along; into February, and most all 
kinds of game birds were still to be found, except the woodcock,. 



.96 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

who had left for their summer home way up in the far north. The 
hunters were still having fine sport and their trips were most suc- 
cessful. 

Pinnev has decided to engage in the rice growing business, 
which is very extensively carried on in and about Jennings, and 
he will soon give up hunting, but before this was done many more 
line strings of game were hauled back to town in the little gig that 
Billy turned upside down. 

Purdee takes his last hunt alone, and the reason why this 
proved such was that before he returned from it he had seen two 
dead alligators that had been killed by some hunter, and had shot 
seven water moccasins (snakes), which his clog, Sport, had pointed. 

He returned from this hunt, with a nice bunch of birds, con- 
sisting of snipe and quail; and in his letter sent home announcing 1 
the date of his leaving this was written, "Have had my last hunt ; 
when I saw that the snakes had come out, I decided to get out." 



CHAPTER XIV. 
THE PmNEYS MADE HAPPY. 

Purdee has decided to leave his old dog with the Pinnevs, and 
when "Gar" was presented to them the children were just wild 
with joy. Their father had for a long time felt confident that this 
was what Purdee would do before he left. 

The day for him to leave has arrived, or rather the night has 
.arrived, for he is to take the midnight train. He has bid the fam- 
ily, one and all, goodby; but Pinnev says, "I will say my goodby 
when you board the train." 

He returns to the hotel with Purdee where midst the smoke of 
oft filled pipes the incidents of the past two months are lived over 




GAR AND HIS YOUNG MISTRESS- PURDEE'S] YOUNGEST CHILD. 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 97 

again; and when Purdee tells Pinney if he had received the day 
before what he did the first day that they met, when he went to the 
office with him, he would never have had him for a hunting com- 
panion, Pinney says : 

"Well, Mr. Purdee, if ever a mortal was glad, I am, that your 
mail was belated; for I have never during my life had such sport. 
You see I never before hunted with dogs ; and such good ones, and 
I don't believe any one else ever did. And this puts me in mind of 
what was said at the barber shop the other night. They were speak- 
ing about Sport ; they had learned that you were soon to leave town, 
and Jones, the barber, who is quite a sport, asked me if I thought 
he could be bought. Not for no small amount, I said, for I heard 
Mr. Purdee say to a man at the hotel who asked him how much 
money it would take to buy him, that a two cent postage stamp 
represented just as much money, as far as buying the dog was con- 
cerned, as what a two hundred dollar bill did." 

"Pinney, I felt bad when bidding old Gar goodby ; but he does 
love children, and as yours have made so much of him, it would be 
as bad to take him away from them as it is for me to leave him." 

"Well, I am mighty pleased that you came to such decision/'' 

Time had flown fast, and when the clerk said, "It's near train 
time, gentlemen," both were surprised. They leave the house and 
are soon at the station, the train pulls in, Sport is in the baggage 
car, and two good fellows part. 



CHAPTER XV. 
ON THE TRAIN. 



Purdee has much to think of, now that he is leaving the place 
where he has had such royal sport; and he often asks himself as 
"the midnight flyer" speeds on, "Where could I have gone to find 



98 Hunting and Shooting Incidents 

such*hunting ?" A mere wonder, one might say, after leaving Bal- 
timore. By fate or by luck, whichever you like to term it, he landed 
in one of the finest hunting resorts known in the state. 

With such pleasant thoughts on his mind he falls asleep 
dreaming of woodcock and later is awakened, not by its whistle but 
bv the whistle of a locomotive. 

On arriving in New Orleans, he at once with his dog proceeded 
to the Johns Hotel, where he and his old chum Lew Sears had 
stopped. They were all pleased to see him there. He had dinner, 
then went to the French market where he soon closes up his business 
with Paul St. Phillip. 

On reviewing his accounts he finds that the shipments of game 
in number amounted to twenty-one hundred and thirty-nine (2139) 
birds, eleven rabbits and one squirrel. This number was sent in 
forty-one shipments, first shipment the twentieth of December and 
the last on the fourteenth of February. I give this accurate state- 
ment here, because it would be an easy matter for one to make a 
misleading statement in a matter of this kind if so disposed. Hav- 
ing reviewed these bills is sufficient evidence of its correctness. 

On arriving in the city, Purdee thought first to go north by 
steamer. But later decided to see his son who lived in Chicago; and 
is soon on the train, bound for that city, over the Illinois Central 
Railroad. Before reaching there he had many pleasant thoughts; 
none more so than those of the benefit which he had been to Pinney 
and his family; for when Saturday night came he always received 
what was due him, whether returns came or not. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

PURDEE ARRIVES IN CHICAGO. 

Purdee was met by his son and at once taken to his home. 
The son, not seeing "Old Gar," asks what had become of him, and 



Hunting and Shooting Incidents 99 

when he is told a sadness came over him, for well did this son re- 
member the dog ; for it was this same dog that he, when a boy, had 
with his father, first hunted over; and later when his father had 
come west to visit him, they together had with great success hunted 
prairie chickens. 

Bill is now asked by his son what kind of a dog the young one 
was; and his father replies by saying, "To you, my boy, I will say 
the same as when I answered a noted dog trainer who asked me that 
same question; he hasn't the fault of any dog that I ever owned, 
but has the good qualities of them all." 

For hours Purdee sits and relates to his son the different in- 
cidents that had happened to him while on this trip, which to him 
had been an eventful one, and the son was highly entertained. But 
when he made mention of Lew Sears and his getting sick, his son 
felt bad, for he knew him well. 

And now the oft-filled pipe is empty again and is laid aside, 
the father saying, "I must now say good night, if I don't in a few 
moments it would be good morning, as midnight has arrived." 

After spending some time with his son, Purdee leaves for home, 
and the last of March he and Sporty arrive. 

When the dear ones had been embraced and he had been told 
that no one had been sick, he says, "Thanks be to the Lord." 

The next day he goes to see Lew and is pleased to find him 
greatly improved, and during the spring he was enabled to resume* 
his business. 



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SEVENTEENTH 

Purdee Visits the Capitol City. 



ON" returning from a southern hunting trip in the year 1900 
Bill stops over in Washington to see the sights. Although 
he had been in the city several times he had never visited 
Arlington, but he now decided to visit the place where 
lay thenation's dead. 

On entering the broad avenue where naught but stillness reigns 
with thoughts of the valiant deeds performed by the heroes who here 
do lie, he saunters beneath the monument on the left, erected to 
the unknown dead, and with sad thoughts turns away, he thinks 
of the sorrow that the death of these unknown heroes has caused. 

He stops again, and does not know why ; but he is facing a mon- 
ument on the left on which he reads these words, "Erected to the 
memory of Admiral J. S. S." And as he stands with eyes centered 
on this name, his wife, who is with him, says, "He was your friend." 

"Friend !" Purdee says, "Yes ; and all that that word implies. 
At all times a gentleman and a dear lover of nature. What pleasure 
it was to listen to his comments made on the changeable foliage as 
we drove over the country roads on a beautiful October morning." 

With sadness Purdee and his wife leave the grave where, in 
death, lay one who had been his companion on many a hunt. 

Down the avenue they passed, thinking of the dead that were 
not seen; and as they were about to turn, having reached the end 
of the avenue, they find themselves facing another monument, be- 
neath which lies the dear old Admiral E. who loved so well to hunt 
with Purdee. 

The scenes of their hunting days flash through Purdee' s mind, 
and it's with sorrow that he turns away ; and as he does so he makes 
mention to his wife of the last letter received from the Admiral, in 
which was an invitation to visit him at his estate in Virginia on 
which could be killed anything from a rabbit to a deer, and from 
quail to wild turkey. 

These are the closing words of that last letter, "Come, Purdee, 
and spend a month, yes, the whole hunting season; you know you 
will be most welcome.'"' 101 




K 



'in 



AT THE " TURKEY SHOOT.' 



TO satisfy the constant and growing demand for books con- 
taining short stories, and especially those relating to the early 
life of American lads who are now among our older citizens, 
the author of this work is about to publish 



THE OLD FLINT PISTOL; 



OR, 



Incidents in the Early Life of the Boy Who Used I 



FULLY ILLUSTRATED 



THIS work will not only be found to be very interesting, but 
instructive as well ; as it is a true story relating actual incidents 
in the life of a New England boy, and shows how courage, 
daring, determination and grit will succeed, when tempered 
with the proper amount of coolness, and always accompanied with 
manliness, promptness and honesty. 

The book will be a valuable addition to any library ; you will 
enjoy it as well as your children. 

Here are a few of the good things to be found by a perusal 
of the pages of 

"THE OLD FLINT PISTOL" 

PART FIRST.— Jim Hathaway' s Boyhood Days. 

Jim was born near a ship-yard on the bank of the riverin 
"The Old Pine Tree State." 

He was the youngest of a family of thirteen. 

The getting of his first boat, also his first gun, are amus- 
ing incidents. 

The title of the book is taken from "The Od Flint Pistol," 
with which Jim established a world's record lat an old time 
"Turkey Shoot." 

Jim handles game cocks, trains a monkey and also a 
pair of steers. 

Jim's first sea shooting after obtaining permission to use a gun. 

Jim as a sailor-lad in the old time packet ships, and the 
many incidents aboard of them, of which the public of today 
know but little about. 

PART SECOND. — Jim Hathaway as an Engineer. 

Jim was an engineer during the War of the Rebelion, and 
later on the Pacific. 

PART THIRD. — Jim Hathaway s Adventures on the Mississippi 

River. 

Jim and his pal build a boat. 
They found the hunter's paradise. 
Their experiences during a tornado. 
Jim at a back woods party. 

They meet a couple of old time trappers who did not 
get scalped. 

Jim Hathaway and Bill Pardee are identical. — Publisher. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 894 701 P 

BE ON THE LOOKOUT 



FOR 



The Old Flint Pistol 



OR 



Incidents in the Early Life of the Boy 

Who Used It 

A STORY 

Relating Actual Incidents in the Life of 

A New England Boy 



FULLY ILLUSTRATED 



By RAMBLER 

It is soon to be published and will make a book for everybody. 
While it will be a boy's book, every man will enjoy it, and every 
woman and girl will be interested in it. 

Each chapter is a story of itself which helps to meet the growing 
demand for books containing short stories. 

It is so interesting that as you finish a chapter you will be thirsting 
for the next. 

If the first chapter is read, the last and all intervening ones 
surely will be. 



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002 894 701 A 



